REESE    LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA 

1 88 
Accessions  Nok.«-&-    Shelf  No.- 


YARADEE; 


PLEA    FOR    AFRICA, 


IN  FAMILIAR  CONVERSATIONS  ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF 


SLAVERY   AND   COLONIZATION. 


BY  F.  FREEMAN, 

Rector  of  St.  David's  Church,  Manayunk;  author  of  "  The  Pastor's  Plea  for 
Sacred  Psalmody,"  etc. 


ff^'       OP  TEE  "f    \ 

HOMO  SUM,  HUMANI  NIL  A  ME  ALIENUM  PUTO."-—  Terence . 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED   BY  J.  WHETHAM, 
No.  22  South  Fourth  street. 

1836. 


Eff 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18SG,  by  J. 
WHETHAM,  in  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania. 


WILLIAM      STATELY,     PBINTEK, 

No.  12  Pear  Street, 


DEDICATION. 
TO 

THE    YOUNG   MEN 

OF  THE 

PENNSYLVANIA   AND    NEW-YORK   COLONIZATION  SOCIETIES,. 
WHO, 

WHEN    THE    CAUSE  OF  COLONIZATION    DEEDED    MOST    THEIR  AID,  AND 
IX  THE  TIME  OF  ITS  GREATEST  EMERGENCY,  CAME  NOBLY  TO 
THE  RESCUE,  REVIVING  THE  DROOPING  SPIRITS    OF 
MANY  TRUE  FRIENDS  OF  AFRICA,  FILLING 
THEIR  HEARTS  WITH  GLADNESS,  AND 
INFUSING  NEW  ZEAL  THROUGH 
EVERY  DEPARTMENT  OF 
THE    ENTER 
PRISE, 

THIS  WORK  IS  RESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED, 
BY   THEIR    FRIEND, 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

ADVERTISEMENT,  11 

CONVERSATION  I. 

The  claims  of  Africa  worthy  of  consideration — Diversity  of  senti 
ment — The  African  race  often  trad  uced — Capable  of  moral  and 
intellectual  distinction — Once  an  enlightened  people — Distin 
guished  men — Degrading  influence  of  paganism  and  tyranny,  13-19 

CONVERSATION  II. 

Origin  of  the  African  race — Africa,  by  whom  originally  settled — 
The  curse  against  Canaan — The  curse  explained — The  predic 
tion  fulfilled — Slavery  not  therefore  just — Canaanites  scatter 
ed. — Africa  not  always  to  be  oppressed,  20-27 

CONVERSATION    III. 

^Ethiopia  shall  stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God — Colour  of  Afri 
cans — Different  tribes  assimilated — Tradition  respecting  Cush — 
Early  history  of  Africa  obscure — Interior  of  Africa  but  little 
known — Africa's  ancient  glory — Light  from  Africa  on  other 
lands,  -  -  28-34 

CONVERSATION  IV. 

Great  reverses  often  in  the  history  of  nations — Much  yet  to  admire 
in  Africa — Africa's  distinguished  ones — Prince  Moro — Prince 
Abduhl  Rahahman — Abduhl's  father  and  Dr.  Cox — Prince  and 
Dr.  Cox — Dr.  Cox  endeavours  to  free  Prince — Prince's  account 
of  his  capture — Carried  to  the  W.  Indies  and  JNatchez,  -  35-43 

CONVERSATION  V. 

Remains  of  Africa's  former  glory — Destined  to  rise — Travellers  in 
Africa — Truth  and  fiction  found  together  in  travels — Africans  not 

1  * 


6  CONTENTS. 

naturally  indolent — Causes  of  indolence  and  incentives  to  vice — 
African  bravery — Henry  Diaz — Other  traits — Louis  Desrouleaux — 
Glance  at  the  interior  of  Africa — The  Solima  camp — Solima 
song,  -  -  44-53 

CONVERSATION    VI. 

Scripture  testimony  to  African  learning — Manuscripts — Tribes  dis 
covered — Large  cities — Colour  of  beauty — Domestic  slavery  in 
Africa — Manner  of  capturing  slaves — Horrors  of  the  slave- 
trade — Middle  passage — Horrors  of  slavery — Slavery  a  reproach 
to  any  people — An  evil  full  of  danger — The  evil  should  be  re 
moved — Something  must  be  done — A  right  spirit  needed,  -  54-65 

CONVERSATION    VII. 

Self-preservation,  a  law  of  nature — Change  being  effected — Com 
mon  interest  of  our  country — Slavery,  the  bane  of  our  peace  and 
unity — Depresses  the  South — Is  unprofitable — Introduced  by 
England — Policy  of  England — Retires  South— Cannot  be  sup 
ported  on  barren  soils — Occasions  much  anxiety — Great  vigilance 
necessary — Insurrectionary  alarms — An  evil  to  master  and  slave,  66-75 

CONVERSATION  VIII. 

Slavery  attended  with  anxieties — Severe  enactments — Dangerous 
publications — The  South  must  be  vigilant — Insurrectionary  at 
tempts  ruinous  to  the  blacks — Slaves  should  not  be  kept  in 
ignorance — Kindly  feelings  at  the  South — Difficulties  of  emanci 
pation— Duty  to  slaves  does  not  always  require  emancipation,  76-84 

CONVERSATION  IX. 

Property  in  human  flesh  a  revolting  thought — Sentiments  of  the 
Suuth — Misrepresentations— Severity  of  remark  unwise — Wash 
ington's  advice,  -  85-98 

CONVERSATION  X. 

Introduction  of  slavery — Opposed  by  the  colonies — The  first  slave- 
ship — Early  date  of  Slavery  in  Africa — Foreign  traffic — Slaves 
introduced  into  Hispaniola — Origin  of  Slavery  in  America — Mis 
taken  Philanthropy  of  Las  Casas — Mistaken  zeal  in  a  good  cause 
may  lead  to  great  error — Plea  of  political  necessity  often  abused — 
Advantage  of  one's  own  wrong — A  consummation  greatly  to  be 
desired,  .......  99-110 


CONTENTS.  7 

CONVERSATION  XI. 

All  Christendom  guilty — Christianity  identified  by  the  African  for 
merly  with  cruelty  and  perfidy — Classification  of  slaves — How 
slaves  are  secured  and  sold — Horrors  of  the  passage — The  mid 
dle  passage — Africa  as  she  was — Extent  of  the  trade — Cruel 
ties,  -  •  -  111-117 

CONVERSATION  XII. 

Cruelties  of  the  slave-trade — Extent  of  the  trade  in  later  years — 
First  cost— Domestic  distress — Affecting  case — The  African 
Chieftain,  Stanzas,  -  -  118-125 

CONVERSATION  XIII. 

Change  of  public  sentiment — Measures  in  Parliament — Abolition 
of  the  trade  by  Congress — By  other  powers — Trade  not  sup 
pressed — Something  more  necessary — Colonies  along  the  coast 
— Early  efforts  of  Virginia — Her  example  followed— Slavery 
abolished  by  England— Claims  of  England  unwarrantable  and 
immodest — An  enlightened  view  of  the  whole  subject  de 
sirable,  -  -  126-1 34 

CONVERSATION  XIV. 

The  Federal  government — Rights  guaranteed  by  Constitution — 
Must  not  be  infringed — District  of  Columbia — South  sensitive — 
North  censorious — All  interested — Prudent  measures  recom 
mended — North  not  without  sin — Appeal  to  New-England,  -  135-1  42 

CONVERSATION  XV. 

A  national  debt — May  be  cancelled— Right  of  discussion — A  moral 
wrong — Property  recognized  by  law — Rights  guaranteed — Value 
of  slave  property — The  Federal  compact — Difficulties  of  eman 
cipation — South  tenacious  of  its  rights — Foreign  interference  in 
admissible — The  constitutional  question — Effects  of  discussion — 
Disunion  and  collision,  madness — Virginia  matron's  appeal,  -  143-148 

CONVERSATION  XVI. 

Moral  and  religious  instruction  of  slaves — Efforts  at  the  South — 
Religious  instruction  in  Virginia — In  Georgia — In  South  Caro 
lina — Colonization  tends  to  emancipation — Anecdote  of  recap 
tured  boy — Slavery  overruled  for  good — Christian  colonies  a 
means  of  evangelizing  the  heathen,  -  -  149-169 


8  CONTENTS. 

CONVERSATION    XVII. 

Freedom  alone  will  not  elevate  the  blacks— Their  depravation  not 
strange — No  stimulus  to  effort — No  opportunity  for  distinction — 
Almost  necessarily  degraded — Natural  consequence  of  their  si 
tuation — Cannot  rise  or  he  happy  here— Claims  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society — Opens  bright  prospects  for  Africa— Preju 
dices  against  Africans — Distinctions  on  account  of  colour — Less 
prejudice  in  other  countries — Anecdote  of  Saunders,  -  -  170-177 

CONVERSATION  XVIII. 

Free  blacks  more  degraded  than  slaves — Alarming  proportion  of 
crime  among  blacks — Either  colonization  or  slavery  necessary 
for  the  present— Colonization  ameliorates  the  condition  of  the 
slave — Immediate  and  universal  emancipation  ruinous — Anec 
dote — Free  blacks  in  this  country  an  unwelcome  population — 
Baltimore  memorial — Embarkation  of  colonists,  -  178-186 

CONVERSATION  XIX. 

Africa  a  home  for  her  children — Happiness  and  respectability  pro 
moted  by  removal — Motives  to  respectability — African  improve 
ment  and  colonization  closely  united — The  foundation  of  a  Chris 
tian  empire  laid— History  of  the  American  Colonization  Society 
— Society  organized — Originators  and  Patrons — First  emigration 
to  Africa— Colonization  ogents  visit  Africa— Samuel  John  Mills 
—Death  of  Mills— Tribute  to  his  memory,  -  -  187-196 

CONVERSATION  XX. 

Friends  of  Africa— Anthony  Benezet— Object  of  the  American  Co 
lonization  Society — Generally  approved— All  may  unite— La 
fayette's  views  of  the  Society— Other  distinguished  friends- 
Auxiliaries— Legislative  acts  approbatory— Funds— Ecclesiasti 
cal  bodies  approve,  -  ...  197-205 

CONVERSATION  XXI. 

Liberia— Location  and  chief  settlements— Monrovia— Caldwell— 
New  Georgia— Millsburgh— Cape  Palmas— Address  of  the  Ma 
ryland  Colonists— Bassa  Cove— Fertility  of  Liberia— Testimony 

of  Park — Productions — Resources — Commercial    advantages 

Commerce  of  Liberia— Enterprise — Prosperity,  -  .      206-215 

CONVERSATION  XXII. 
Climate— First  selection  of  place  unfavourable— Exposures  of  the 


CONTENTS.  9 

early  colonists — Discouragements  at  Jamestown  and  Plymouth 
greater — Difficulties  at  Sierra  Leone — Desolations  of  the  slave- 
trade — Humanity  pleads  for  colonization — Honour  to  be  pioneers 
— Address  of  citizens  of  Monrovia — Delightful  climate  for  blacks 
—No  competition,  -  216-223 

CONVERSATION  XXIII. 

Aid  from  the  U.  States — Recaptured  slaves  restored  to  Africa — 
Early  trials  of  the  colony — Ashmun's  defence — Ashmun's  death 
— His  early  history — Dies  praying  for  Africa — Monument — Po 
etical  tribute,  -  -  -  224-230 

CONVERSATION  XXIV. 

Government  of  Liberia— Literary  advantages — Library — Printing 
press — Testimony  of  Dr.  Shane — Of  Captain  Kennedy — Of  Capt. 
Nicholson— Of  Capt.  Abels— Of  a  British  officer— Of  Governor 
Mechlin — Of  Capt.  Sherman — Of  colonists — Religious  privi 
leges — Colonization  a  good  cause— Good  has  been  done,  -  231-241 

CONVERSATION  XXV. 

Young  Men's  Colonization  Society  of  Pennsylvania — First  expedi 
tion—Interesting  coincidences — Great  success  and  encourage 
ment — Bassa  Cove — The  slavers  move  the  natives  to  attack  the 
colony — No  apprehension  for  the  future — Prosperity  of  the  co 
lony — College  in  Liberia  proposed — Such  an  institution  need 
ed — College  necessary — Degeneracy  without  knowledge — A 
college  in  Liberia  full  of  promise — It  will  be  sustained — Bassa 
Cove  a  delightful  country — Colonists  contented  and  prosperous 
— The  colonies  must  succeed — Colonies  should  line  the  coast,  242-256 

CONVERSATION  XXVI. 

Right  of  search — Convention  of  foreign  powers — Extinction  of  the 
slave-trade — Recent  facts— Slave-trade  not  practicable  where  co 
lonies  are  planted — Great  extent  of  coast  exposed — Our  national 
vessels  should  visit  the  coast — Some  action  of  Congress  desir 
able,  -  ....  257-264 

CONVERSATION  XXVII. 

Colonization  is  practicable — Best  way  of  redressing  Africa's 
wrongs — The  cause  of  true  patriotism — Its  claims — Colonization 
or  ruin — Difference  of  opinion  among  good  men— Increase  of 
blacks — Dangers  from  a  mixed  population,  -  -  -  265-273 


10  CONTENTS. 

CONVERSATION  XXVIII. 

Even  partial  success  a  great  blessing — Slaves  of  other  times  of  the 
colour  of  their  masters— Colonization  unites  conflicting  interests — 
All  are  benefitted — An  honourable  instance — Views  of  an  intel 
ligent  coloured  man — Our  honour  pledged — A  nation's  oath — 
Christian  obligations — Heaven  on  the  side  of  Afric— Africa  and 
colonization  the  subject  of  many  prayers,  -  -  274-283 

CONVERSATION  XXIX. 

A  great  and  worthy  enterprise — Africa's  claims  acknowledged — A 
missionary  field— Bright  prospects — Fond  anticipation  of  Mills — 
What  more  noble  cause — Emancipation  not  our  only  duty — The 
country  must  engage  in  the  work — Right  of  appropriation — True 
liberty  secured  to  Africa,  -  284-291 

CONVERSATION  XXX. 

Objections  answered — Means  of  transportation — Great  things  usual 
ly  accomplished  slowly — Liberia  compared  with  other  colonies — 
Room  in  Africa — All  opposition  wrong — Shall  not  Africa  be  chris 
tianized  ? — Responsibility  of  opposers — Colonization  and  abolition 
societies  not  necessarily  conflicting — Neither  should  molest  or  be 
molested — All  good  associations  have  not  the  same  object — glo 
rious  results  anticipated — If  colonization  fail,  high  hopes  are 
blighted— It  will  prosper— The  cause  of  God,  -  292-301 

APPENDIX. 

Early  and  distinguished  friends  of  Colonization — Robert  Finley — 
James  Madison — Thomas  Jefferson — James  Monroe — Charles 
Carroll — Bushrod  Washington — John  Marshall — Bishop  White — 
Elias  B.  Caldwell — William  H.  Fitzhugh — Thomas  S.  Grimke — 
Lott  Carey— Dr.  Randall— Dr.  Anderson— Melville  B.  Cox— and 
others,  .  303-334 

Pre-eminent  qualifications  of  the  pioneers  in  colonization — Qualifi 
cations  of  the  colonists  generally — Acknowledgment  of  the  valu 
able  services  of  others  in  aid  of  the  cause,       -  -      334-336 
Colonization  and  Africa  have  found  generous  friends  among  the 

fair  sex,  .      336-340 

Friends  to  the  cause  in  England,  •      341-342 

Objections  of  opposers,        -  -  -  342-358 

Africa  a  delightful  climate  for  blacks,       -  359 

Growth  of  the  colony,        -  .  .  359 

Correction,  .......  360 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

THIS  little  volume  is  thrown  before  the  world  without  the 
usual  array  of  names  to  sustain  its  claims  to  consideration. 
Its  pretensions  are  not  lofty:  it  refers  to  the  importance  of 
its  subject,  and  with  the  solemn  assurance  that  it  has  been 
written  without  any  subserviency  to  party  views,  and  with 
out  any  unkind  designs,  it  relies  on  the  candour  of  the  reader. 
The  writer  has  followed  the  honest  convictions  of  his  own 
mind,  and  in  connexion  with  facts  that  are  indisputable,  has 
expressed  views  which  are  the  conscientious  result  of  much 
reflection,  personal  observation,  and  a  long  residence  and  ex 
tensive  acquaintance  at  the  South.  He  may  have  formed  an 
erroneous  judgment  in  some  things  pertaining  to  the  subject, 
for 

"  to  err  is  human," 

and  he  lays  no  claim  to  infallibility ;  but  he  loves  truth,  and 
has  truly  aimed  at  impartiality.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  he  is 
constrained  to  admit  a  liability  to  bias  from  "  Northern  pre 
judice,"  he  can  sincerely  say  that,  on  the  other  hand,  his 
warm  admiration  of  the  Southern  character  and  his  affection 
for  Southern  friends  unite  an  all-sufficient  counteracting  in 
fluence.  He  is  fully  aware  that  as  these  pages  savour  none 


12  ADVERTISEMENT. 

of  party,  they  will  not  find  favour  with  the  ULTRAS  of  any 
opinion ;  and  he  conceives  it  more  than  possible  that  some 
of  opposing  sentiments  may  each  suppose  that  the  writer 
favours  the  views  of  the  other :  if,  however,  whilst  some 
disapprove  and  condemn  without  cause,  or  are  severe  in 
criticism,  the  more  candid  approve,  the  writer  will  not  com 
plain.  That  these  pages  may  do  good,  is  the  anxious  wish 
of  one  who  loves  his  country  and  sympathizes  with  his 
brethren  in  whatever  part  of  the  country,  and  also  pities 
Africa  and  her  oppressed  children. 

Particular  acknowledgments  of  the  aid  derived  in  this 
work  from  the  able  remarks  of  several  distinguished  advo 
cates  for  freedom  and  for  human  rights,  are  not  given;  for 
the  task  would  be  inconvenient  and  useless.  If  any  such 
find  their  thoughts  or  language  here  employed,  they  will 
require  no  apology,  satisfied  to  have  aided  by  their  writings 
this  humble  attempt  at  a  plea  for  Africa,  and  will  cordially 
unite  with  that  of  the  writer,  their  earnest  prayer  that  the 
claims  of  Africa  may  be  better  understood,  and  that  we  may 
all  and  each  of  us  soon  be  able  to  say,  without  an  exception 
or  a  blush, 

"  UBI  L1BERTAS,  IBI  P  ATRIA." 


OF   THE 

UN171ESITYJ 
CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


CONVERSATION  I. 


"  Eternal  nature !  when  thy  giant  hand 
Had  heaved  the  floods,  and  fixed  the  trembling  land, 
When  life  sprung  startling  at  thy  plastic  call, 
Endless  her  forms,  and  man  the  lord  of  all ; 
Say  was  that  lordly  form,  inspired  by  thee, 
To  wear  eternal  chains,  and  bow  the  knee  ?" — Campbell* 


*THE  subject  of  your  discussion,'  said  Mr.  L.,  as  he  folded 
the  paper  which  had  for  some  time  absorbed  his  attention, 
and  turned  to  his  children,  who  in  the  opposite  part  of  the 
parlour,  whilst  he  was  reading,  had  been  as  busily  employed 
in  discussing  the  merits  of  the  Colonization  and  Anti-slavery 
Societies,  '  is  certainly  one  that  commends  itself  to  the  heart 
of  humanity  in  either  sex  and  among  all  people.  Your  in 
quiries,  last  evening,  I  had  not  time  then  to  answer  fully ; 
but  I  shall  be  happy  now  to  give  you  all  the  information  in 
relation  to  it,  in  my  power.' 

The  little  group  which  Mr.  L.  thus  addressed,  consisted 
of  his  eldest  daughter,  Caroline,  a  lovely  and  interesting  girl 
of  sixteen  ;  Henry,  a  sprightly  and  intelligent  boy,  who  was 
next  to  his  sister  Caroline  in  age,  and  their  two  younger 
brothers,  and  little  sister  Mary.  Caroline  and  Henry  were 
conducting  the  debate,  but  all  seemed  deeply  interested  in 


14  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Diversity  of  sentiment. 

the  subject,  and  the  eyes  of  all  glistened  with  pleasure  when 
Mr.  L.  proposed  to  gratify  their  wishes  by  assisting  them 
to  understand  a  subject  which  they  found  attended  with  at 
least  some  difficulty.  A  beloved  and  respected  father  is  au 
thority  to  which  a  dutiful  and  affectionate  child  loves  to  refer 
for  information  and  advice,  and  to  which,  ordinarily,  an  ap 
peal  is  made  with  great  confidence. 

Said  Caroline,  '  I  thought  from  your  remarks,  last  even 
ing,  my  dear  father,  that  you  supposed  the  views  of  both 
Henry  and  myself  to  be  somewhat  incorrect ;  and  I  think 
nothing  more  probable  than  that  mine  are,  for  I  confess  I 
know  not  what  to  believe  when  I  notice  the  conflicting  opin 
ions  of  so  many  good  men  in  relation  to  this  subject.' 

'  It  need  not  surprise  us,'  rejoined  Mr.  L.,  'to  find  pre 
vailing  some  diversity  of  sentiment  on  a  subject  which,  whe 
ther  presented  to  the  mind  of  patriot,  philanthropist,  or 
Christian,  involves  considerations  of  so  great  and  important 
interest.  Nor  will  it  be  thought  strange  by  me,  if  my  dear 
children  should  find,  when  we  come  to  converse  freely  and 
fully  on  the  subject,  that  they  are  in  some  respects  in  error, 
not  in  matters  of  opinion  only,  but  of  fact.  I  therefore  sug 
gested  to  you,  last  evening,  for  I  had  not  time  to  say  more, 
that,  possibly  you  might  find  yourself,  in  some  things,  la 
bouring  under  mistake.  The  hint  was  given,  you  will  recol 
lect,  Caroline,  in  consequence  of  a  remark  of  yours  in  re 
spect  to  the  "  obtuseness"  of  the  African  intellect.' 

'  But,  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  with  some  degree  of  surprise, 
and  with  apparent  incredulity,  '  I  presume  you  do  not  think 
the  remark  unjust?  The  stupidity  of  Africans,  I  suppose 
to  be  proverbial.' 

A  point  was  now  touched  which  it  was  evident  had  inte- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  15 

The  African  race  often  traduced. 

rested  the  feelings  of  the  children  in  the  previous  conversa 
tion  that  had  been  held  whilst  Mr.  L.  was  engaged  in  read 
ing;  for  the  smaller  children  drew  closer  around  the  table, 
and  Caroline  and  Henry  looked  at  each  other  and  at  their 
father,  as  if  this  was  a  matter  respecting  which  they  had  not 
only  agreed,  but  wondered  that  any  one,  and  especially  one 
whose  opinion  they  so  much  respected,  could  entertain  a 
thought  different  from  theirs.  The  reply  of  Mr.  L.  engaged 
their  feelings  still  more  : 

'  It  is  true,  my  daughter,  that  in  defiance  of  all  records  of 
antiquity,  whether  sacred  or  profane,  and  equally  regardless 
of  the  evidence  which  our  own  times  may  furnish,  the  Afri 
can  race  are  often  mentioned  as  if  a  distinct  order  of  beings, 
a  grade  between  man  and  brute  ;  but — 

'  0  Pa  !'  interrupted  C.,  'I  have  no  such  idea  as  that.' 

*I  know  that  you  have  not,'  resumed  Mr,  L.,  'but,  my 
daughter,  you  may  not  be  doing  ample  justice  to  the  Africans, 
if  you  suppose  them  incapable  of  the  finest  sensibilities  and 
sympathies  of  our  nature,  and  of  making  great  advances  in 
all  that  requires  strength  or  even  brilliancy  of  intellect,  as 
any  other  people.' 

*  Is  it  not  strange,  then,  Pa,'  Caroline  inquired,  '  that  none 
of  the  African  race  have  ever  been  distinguished  for  talent? 
I  can  easily  conceive  that  Africans  may  have  warm  hearts  ; 
but  it  hardly  seems  to  me  that  you  are  serious,  Pa,  when 
you  speak  of  the  capabilities  of  the  African  mind  ?' 

4  My  daughter  will  be  quite  as  incredulous  then,  perhaps, 
if  told  that  this  very  people,  now  so  degraded,  and  who  have 
been  as  if  by  common  consent  so  long  and  so  much  traduced, 
were  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  which  is  almost  twenty 
times  longer  than  the  government  under  which  we  live  has  been 


16  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Once  an  enlightened  people. 

in  existence,  the  most  enlightened  people  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.' 

«  What,  Pa,  the  Africans?' 

*  Yes,  my  daughter/ 

4  Why?  Pa,  you  surprise  me.  You  certainly  do  not  mean 
to  be  understood  that  Africans  have  ever  been  distinguished 
for  genius  and  intellectual  attainments  ?' 

*  I  do,  my  daughter,  as  strange  as  it  may  seem.     Africa, 
unhappy  Africa,  is  now  degraded,  and  wherever  are  her  sons 
and  daughters,  they  are  reproached  and  trampled  under  foot; 
but  among  her  children  stand  immortalized  in  history  a  long 
list  of  names,  as  honourable,  for  aught  I  know,  as  any  na 
tion  upon  earth  can  produce.' 

This,  C.  professed,  was  to  her  a  new  idea ;  and  Henry 
who  admitted  that  he  had  'always  thought  the  Africans  a 
much  injured  people,'  and  who  protested  that  he  felt  'very 
little  respect  for  those  people  who  sometimes  place  the  Af 
rican  on  a  level  with  baboons,'  acknowledged  '  that  the 
idea  of  literature  and  science  associated  with  an  African 
name,'  was  as  novel  to  him,  as  it  was  to  Caroline. 

'  You  do  not  mean,  Pa,'  Henry  inquired,  '  that  any  con 
siderable  number  of  Africans  have  discovered  genius,  or  been 
distinguished  for  the  cultivation  of  their  minds  ?' 

Caroline  declared  that  she  did  'know  a  single  instance, 
unless  it  be  that  of  Phillis  Wheatley,  who  lived  in  Boston, 
sixty  years  ago,  and  wrote  some  very  pretty  poems.' 

'You  have  both  of  you,  my  dear  children,'  said  Mr.  L., 
4  heard  of  CYPRIAN,  ST.  AUGUSTINE,  and  TERTULLIAN,  those 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  17 

Distinguished  men. 

Fathers  of  the  Church ;  they  were  Africans.  TERRENCE,  who 
has  been  called 

"  As  sweet  a  bard 
As  ever  strung  the  lyre  to  song," 

was  an  African,  and  was  once  a  slave.  Quintillian  says  that 
Terrence  was  the  most  elegant  and  refined  of  all  the  come 
dians  whose  writings  appeared  on  the  Roman  stage.  You 
have  also  read  of  HANNO  and  HANNIBAL  ;  they  were  among 
the  valiant  ones  of  Africa.  It  is  said  that  the  science  of  Al 
gebra  originated  in  Africa.  And  what  is  more,  the  time  was 
when  Religion  shed  her  rays  brilliantly  upon  that  now  be-r 
nighted  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  the  church  was  there  prosr 
perous.  Ecclesiastical  history  tells  us  that  in  one  council  of 
the  church  in  that  country  assembled  on  a  question  of  great 
importance,  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  Bishops  took 
their  seats.' 

*  Henry  now  inquired  of  Caroline  if  she  had  ever  thought 
of  these  as   being  Africans ;  confessing  that  he  had  not,  al 
though  it  now  seemed  to  him  strange  that  he  never  had.     He 
thought  that  one  would  hardly  suppose,  looking  at  Africa  as 
she  now  is,  that  such  men  were  her  sons.     And  Caroline, 
who  also  knew  the  fact  that  these  were  Africans,  and  could 
tell  much  of  the  ancient  history  of  Africa,  for  she  was  well 
versed  in  history,  both  modern  and  ancient,  but  had  been  so 
long   accustomed  to  identify  the  whole  of  Africa  with  the 
specimens  she  had  seen,  and  to  judge  of   the  intellectual 
powers  of  all  by  the  present  degradation  of  the  great  portion 
of  the  Negro  race  in  this  country,  that  she  had  lost  sight  of 
so  important  facts,  or  at  least  was  unaccustomed  to  think  of 
them  in  this  connexion,  professed  to  be,  *  quite  ashamed'  of 
herself. 

*  I  really  do  not  know,'  she  said,  '  which  most  surprises 


18  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Degrading  influence  of  Paganism  and  Tyranny. 

me,  my  own  stupidity  in  relation  to  this  subject,  or  the  inte 
resting  views  which  open  to  my  mind,  by  reason  of  the  light 
whieh  Pa  has  thrown  upon  it.  But,  Pa,'  she  continued, 
4  the  whole  continent  of  Africa  is  exceeding  degraded  now  ; 
do  you  not  think  that  the  African  intellect,  generally,  has 
greatly  deteriorated  ?' 

*My  daughter/  said  Mr.  L.,  'human  nature,  in  whatever 
situation,  is  wronged,  if  we  judge  of  its  capacity  unfavoura 
bly,  merely  because  we  find  that  paganism  and  tyranny  de 
grade  those  that  fall  under  their  influence. 

4  Perhaps,  however,  we  shall  pursue  this  whole  subject  to 
greater  advantage  if,  taking  time  for  its  consideration  and  dis 
cussion,  we  call  to  our  aid  somewhat  of  system  in  arrange 
ment  of  topics,  and  glance  in  the  first  place  at  the  former 
history  of  Africa,  and  then  at  her  condition  in  later  times, 
noticing  the  wrongs  that  have  been  done  her  in  the  prosecu 
tion  of  the  slave-trade,  and  the  claims  which  Africa  has  upon 
our  sympathy  and  justice  for  redress.  So  that,  if  you 
please,  we  will  make  this  the  general  plan  of  our  conversa 
tions  ;  and  as  other  topics  of  interest  connected  with  the 
general  subject,  and  growing  out  of  it,  naturally  present 
themselves,  they  may  also  be  noticed. 

*  I  am  pleased  to  see  you  interested  in  the  welfare  of  Afri 
ca,  and  disposed  to  acquire  correct  views,  and  cherish  right 
feelings  in  respect  to  so  important  a  subject.  My  own  sym 
pathies  are  strongly  enlisted  in  behalf  of  that  much  injured 
people.  Their  claims  to  our  sympathy  and  humanity  have 
been  too  long  neglected*' 

Both  Caroline  and  Henry  expressed  much  satisfaction 
with  the  arrangement  proposed,  which  they  assured  Mr.  L. 
was  very  grateful  to  their  feelings,  and  expressed  also  a  hope 
that  by  their  attention  and  improvement,  they  might  be  able 
to  give  other  proof  that  they  appreciate  his  kindness. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  19 

Conversation  deferred. 

Mr.  L.,  on  the  other  hand,  intimated  that  he  had  great 
reason  to  rejoice  that  his  children  gave  him  so  much  evidence 
of  their  affection  and  respect,  and  so  much  promise  in  their 
dutiful,  and  upright,  and  ever  amiable  deportment,  of  future 
respectability  and  usefulness  and  happiness. 

The  conversation  was  now  deferred  to  another  time. 


20  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Origin  of  the  African  race. 


CONVERSATION   II. 


"  God  drave  asunder,  and  assign'd  their  lot 

To  all  the  nations.     Ample  was  the  boon 

He  gave  them,  in  its  distribution  fair 

Arid  equal ;  and  he  bade  them  dwell  in  peace." — Cowper. 


'  WELL,  my  son,  Caroline  and  I  are  waiting  for  you,  that 
we  may  take  up  the  subject  of  our  last  evening's  conversa 
tion,'  said  Mr.  L.,  after  a  little  conversation  with  C.  on  va 
rious  topics,  while  Henry  seemed  to  be  busily  engaged  in 
turning  over  the  pages  and  examining  the  contents  of  a  large 
folio  which  lay  before  him  in  the  adjoining  room. 

4 1  am  ready,  Pa,'  said  H. ;  'I  was  looking  at  what  is 
said  under  the  word  "Africa,"  in  the  Encyclopedia  Brittan- 
ica.  Caroline  and  I  have  been  examining  one  book  after 
another  a  great  part  of  the  day,  to  satisfy  ourselves  from 
which  of  the  sons  of  Noah  the  Africans  are  descended. 
The  Old  Testament  has  been  Caroline's  chief  book  of  refer 
ence,  whilst  Calmet,  and  Brown,  and  others  have  been 
searched  by  me,  I  confess,  without  much  benefit.' 

Caroline  was  confident  that  their  father  could  give  them 
*  more  information  on  the  subject  in  one  half  hour,'  than 
they  might  otherwise  acquire  « by  a  whole  month's  study.' 

Mr,  L.  remarked,  *  I  think  we  proposed,  last  evening,  to 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  21 

Africa,  by  whom  originally  settled. 

glance  first  at  the  history  of  the  African  race  :  the  question 
you  were  agitating,  then,  in  respect  to  their  origin,  is  the 
first  to  be  considered. 

1  On  this  point,  we  must  refer  to  a  period  which  profane 
history  does  not  reach,  but  on  which  the  word  of  God 
sheds  its  holy  light,  teaching  us  that  Africa  was  planted  by 
the  descendants  of  HAM,  the  son  of  Noah. 

1  Ham,  you  will  recollect,  had  four  sons.  Of  these  it  is 
generally  agreed,  that  Gush  settled  in  Lower  Egypt,  and  that 
from  him  were  descended  the  ancient  ^Ethiopians,  known  to 
us  as  the  Nubians  and  Abyssinians,  and  embracing  also 
those  unknown  nations  inhabiting  the  equatorial  regions  of 
the  African  continent.  Hence,  "  Cush"is  the  name  applied 
in  the  Hebrew  Bible  to  ^Ethiopia,  embracing  also  in  its  fre 
quent  application  Africa  in  general.  Mizraim,  the  second 
son,  peopled  what  was  known  to  the  ancients  as  the  The- 
bais,  Hermopolis,  Memphis,  and  Delta  of  the  Nile  ;  but  bet 
ter  known  to  us  as  parts  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  some 
times  called  in  the  Hebrew  scriptures  "the  land  of  Ham," 
oftener  "  Mizraim."  From  him  also  were  descended  the 
inhabitants  of  Golchis,  the  ancestors  of  the  warlike  Philis 
tines.  Phut,  another  son,  peopled  Lybia  and  Mauritania, 
embracing  the  kingdom  of  Fez,  the  Deserts,  Algiers,  and 
other  portions.  From  these,  with  such  additions  as  emigra 
tion  and  frequent  conquest  have  given,  it  is  probable  that  all 
the  nations  of  Africa,  however  divided,  mixed,  or  dispers 
ed,  originally  came.' 

Henry  suggested,  '  You  have  not  mentioned  Canaan, 
telling  us  where  he  settled;  I  suppose,  from  the  omission, 
that  he  settled  in  Asia,  in  the  country  called  by  his  name  ?' 

'  Yes :  Canaan,  '  the  youngest  son  of  Ham,  settled  in 
"  Canaan,"  so  called  after  him,  which  is  sometimes  called 


22  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  curse  denounced  against  Canaan. 

in  scripture  "Judah,"  and  is  also  familiarly  known  by  us  as 
the  "land  of  promise,*'  and  is  also  called  "Palestine."  A 
colony  of  Phoenicians,  known  in  scripture  as  Canaanites, 
settled  at  Carthage,  and  probably  spread  themselves  over 
other  portions  of  Africa.' 

Caroline  here  referred  to  an  impression  on  the  minds  of 
many,  that  Africans  generally  are  descended  from  Canaan  ; 
and  that  they  are  therefore  doomed  to  perpetual  slavery  by 
the  curse  which  Noah  denounced  against  him,  Genesis  ix. 
25 — 27.  She  thought  she  had  heard  advanced,  or  had 
somewhere  read  a  sentiment  of  the  kind. 

Henry  thought  that  they  who  suppose  this,  should  have 
better  reasons  than  they  have  for  considering  the  Africans 
descended  from  Canaan,  before  they  make  such  an  applica 
tion  of  the  words  of  Noah. 

He  was  requested  by  his  father  to  read  the  passage  : 
"  Cursed  be  Canaan;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  lie  be 
unto  his  brethren.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Shem, 
and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant.  God  shall  enlarge  Ja- 
pheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem,  and  Ca 
naan  shall  be  his  servant." 

1  That,'  observed  MY.  L.,  '  is  truly  a  remarkable  prophecy. 
It  is  supposed,  by  Commentators,  to  have  been  recorded  for 
the  encouragement  of  the  Israelites  in  warring  with  the  Ca 
naanites.  The  passage  is  attended  with  some  difficulty  in 
the  minds  of  many,  who,  to  obviate  that  difficulty,  read  the 
original,  "  Cursed  be  Ham,  the  father  of  Canaan  ;  in  which 
case  you  see  that  Africa  would,  beyond  doubt,  be  affected  by 
the  denunciation.  And  if  it  have  not  this  meaning,  it  may 
indeed  be  difficult  to  see  the  propriety  of  applying  the  curse 
to  Africa  at  large.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  23 

The  curse  explained. 

It  was  very  natural  that  both  Caroline  and  Henry,  who 
had  been  giving  their  close  attention  to  the  instructions  of 
Mr.  L.,  should  here  ask,  for  they  did  not  see,  *  why  any 
should  change  the  reading  of  the  translation  so  as  to  make 
the  curse  rest  on  Ham !'  The  difficulty,  however,  which 
some  have  found,  or  imagined,  in  the  proper  application  of 
the  denunciation,  Mr.  L.  explained,  referring  them  to  the 
24th  verse  of  the  same  chapter,  which  verse  immediately 
precedes  the  denunciation,  and  reads  as  follows  : — "  And 
awoke  from  his  wine,  and  knew  what  his  younger  son  had 
done  unto  him." 

Henry  now  saw,  at  once,  the  difficulty.  '  His  younger 
son?  H.  exclaimed ;  *  Ham  was  Noah's  second  son,  was  he 
not,  Pa  ?' 

4  Yes  ;  it  appears  that  Ham  was  the  second,  and  not  the 
youngest,  as  they  suppose  is  implied  by  the  term  in  the 
original  translated  younger.  But  the  way  in  which  Ham  is 
introduced  in  connexion  with  the  subject  of  Noah's  intoxi 
cation  and  exposure,  ("find  Ham,  the  father  of  Canaan, 
saw  the  nakedness  of  his  father,  and  told  it  to  his  two 
brethren  without,")  has  led  some  to  infer  that  Ham  was 
the  youngest.  At  the  same  time,  the  frequent  mention  of 
Canaan,  in  connexion  with  the  transaction,  has  suggested  to 
the  mind  of  others  that  Canaan  was  also  criminal ;  and,  by 
them,  the  expression,  "knew  what  his  younger  son  had 
done,"  is  thought  to  refer  to  Canaan,  the  grandson.  Ca 
naan,  they  suppose,  first  discovered  Noah's  situation  and 
told  it  to  Ham. 

'  Be  all  this  as  it  may,  the  history  of  this  painful  trans 
action,  is  full  of  serious  instruction.  You  see  a  very  strik 
ing  contrast  between  the  conduct  of  Ham  in  exposing  to  his 
brethren  Noah's  disgraceful  fall,  and  their  commendable  de- 


24  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  curse  fulfilled. 

portment  in  doing  what  they  could  to  conceal  their  father's 
infirmity  and  guilt.  It  is  very  evident  that  Ham  could  lay 
claim  to  none  of  the  finer  sensibilities  of  our  nature  if  judged 
by  this  one  act.  His  behaviour  was  exceeding  unamiable 
and  reprehensible ;  and  he  must  have  felt  the  rebuke  to  be 
deserved,  when  his  own  father  was  inspired  to  predict  the 
consequent  oppression  and  slavery  of  his  posterity.  And 
Canaan,  if  guilty,  as  has  been  supposed,  was  as  severely  re 
buked,  knowing  that  the  curse  would  rest  especially  on  that 
branch  of  the  family  which  should  descend  from  himself. 
The  example  of  Shem  and  Japheth  on  the  occasion,  is 
worthy  of  all  commendation ;  and  a  blessing  belongs  to 
those  who  imitate  their  amiable  deportment,  as  a  curse  as 
suredly  awaits  all  who  copy  in  their  spirit  or  conduct  the 
pattern  of  Ham  and  Canaan. 

'  To  your  inquiry,  Henry,  whether  the  prediction  of 
Noah  has  been  evidently  fulfilled  in  the  descendants  of  Ham 
or  Canaan,  I  would  reply,  that  if  we  are  to  consider  the 
curse  as  resting  on  the  descendants  of  Ham  generally,  we 
may  see  its  fulfilment  in  the  wrongs  which  unhappy  Africa 
has  suffered  in  the  oppression  and  servitude  to  which  her 
children  have  so  long  been  subjected.  The  history  of  Af 
rica  for  a  long  period,  has  been  for  the  most,  one  of  deep 
suffering,  ignominy,  outrage  and  crime ;  a  tale  of  sorrow 
broken  by  few  intervals  of  happiness  or  of  rest.  It  has 
been  justly  remarked  of  the  whole  continent  that  it  "  has 
lain,  like  some  huge  and  passive  victim,  with  darkness 
throned  like  an  incubus  upon  its  bosom,  while  every  rep 
tile  of  evil  omen  and  hateful  form  has  preyed  undisturbed 
on  its  palsied  extremities."  At  the  North  of  Africa,  "  the 
conflicting  interest  and  crooked  policy  of  Europe  permitting 
an  organized  system  of  piracy;"  Egypt,  from  the  days  of 
Cambyses,  a  tributary  province,  and  prey  of  the  rapacious 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  25 

The  curse  fulfilled. 

Mameluke ;  in  Abyssinia,  the  lamp  of  Christian  truth  glim 
mering  in  its  socket,  and  casting  its  flickering  beams  on  a 
degraded  and  brutalized  population ;  ignorance  and  barbar 
ism  consolidated  and  established  by  Mahometan  influence  in 
the  South  of  Africa ;  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  human 
nature  degraded  and  oppressed;  and  on  the  West  of  Africa, 
the  slave  factory  and  slave  ship  doing  their  accursed  work 
and  sweeping  into  distant  and  hopeless  bondage  unhappy 
thousands,  Africa  may  truly  be  said  to  have  had  the  very 
dregs  of  bitter  affliction  wrung  out  to  her.' 

'  But  what,  Sir,  if  the  denunciation  of  Noah  is  considered 
to  be  against  Canaan  and  his  posterity  alone  ?' 

'  We  shall  still  be  at  no  loss  to  find  in  their  history  a  re 
markable  fulfilment.  The  devoted  nations  which  God  de 
stroyed  before  Israel,  were  descended  from  Canaan ;  and  so 
were  the  Phoenicians,  and  the  Carthagenians  who  were  sub 
jugated  with  dreadful  destruction  by  the  Greeks  and  Ro 
mans.  The  descendants  of  Canaan,  as  a  general  knowledge 
of  the  outlines  of  history  will  be  sufficient  to  show,  have 
been  subjected  to  those  of  Shem  and  Japheth  through  many 
generations.' 

'  The  whole  posterity  of  Ham  then  appear  to  have  been 
signally  the  victims  of  misfortune  and  oppression  ?' 

1  They  certainly  have,  my  son.' 

'I  have  been  running  my  eye  over  this  Commentary,  said 
C.  on  the  passage  of  scripture  to  which  we  have  referred; 
shall  I  read  a  sentence  ?  Bishop  Newton,  you  will  see,  Pa, 
takes  it  for  granted  that  the  curse  denounced  is  upon  Ham 
and  all  his  descendants,' 

B 


26  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Slavery  unjust. 

*  Read  it,  Caroline.' 

Caroline  reads  the  sentence  she  proposed  :  "  The  whole 
continent  of  Africa  was  peopled  principally  by  the  de-/ 
scendants  of  Ham ;  and  for  many  ages  have  the  better 
parts  of  that  country  lain  under  the  dominion  of  the  Ro 
mans,  and  then  of  the  Saracens,  and  now  of  the  Turks  ! 
In  what  wickedness,  ignorance,  barbarity,  slavery,  and 
misery,  live  most  of  the  inhabitants  ! — and  of  the  poor  Ne 
groes,  how  many  hundreds,  every  year,  are  sold  and 
bought,  like  beasts  in  ^the  market,  and  conveyed  from  one 
quarter  of  the  world  to  do  the  work  of  beasts  in  ano 
ther!" 

*  But,  Pa,  even  if  the   whole  race  of  Africans  are  em 
braced  in  the  curse,  it  does  not  therefore  afford  a  vindication 
of  slavery,  or  excuse  for  the  cruel  oppression  of  the  African, 
does  it?' 

*  No,  Caroline  :  God  has  not,  as  I  think,  authorized  us  to 
enslave  Africans,  whatever  authority  may  be    claimed  for 
Israel  to  drive  out,  and  scatter  and  destroy  the  idolatrous 
Canaanites.     The  covetous  desires  and  barbarous  practices 
of  those  who  seek  to  enrich  themselves  with  the  products  of 
the  sweat  and  blood  of  Africa's  unhappy  sons,  and  for  this 
purpose  tear  them  away  from  their  native  country,  are  with 
out  apology. 

*  Nor,  whether  the  prediction  and  denunciation  of  Noah 
affect  Canaan  and  his  descendants  alone,  or  Ham  and  his 
posterity  generally,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  Africa  is  there 
fore  either  the  lawful  prey  of  violence  and  outrage,  or  that 
she  is  doomed  to  perpetual  degradation  and  wrongs.    Admit 
ting  that  the  prediction  has  been  remarkably  fulfilled,  whe 
ther  on  Canaan,  or  Africa  generally,  and  that  however  wicked 
the  oppressor  has  been,  he  was  a  scourge  in  the  hand  of 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  27 

Africa  not  always  to  be  oppressed. 

God,  fulfilling  a  just  decree,  and  an  important  prediction  in 
volving  the  authenticity  of  a  portion  of  the  sacred  volume ; 
still,  neither  are  the  oppressors  therefore  innocent,  nor  are 
we  to  suppose  that  the  oppressed  are  never  to  cease  to  be 
the  victims  of  the  denunciatory  decree.  The  same  Scrip 
tures  which,  turning  to  Africa,  appeal  for  one  testimony  of 
their  truth  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  curse,  are,  we  should  re 
member,  also  to  gather  another  argument  from  the  fulfilment 
of  the  prediction  which  says — "  JEthiopia  shall  soon  stretch 
out  her  hands  unto  God"  This  prediction  and  promise 
must  be  fulfilled,  nor  can  all  creation  stay  the  Almighty  arm 
that  will  be  uplifted  to  break  the  rod  of  her  oppressors, 
Africa  will  be  free.  Her  chains  will  fall. 
*  We  will  resume  the  subject  this  evening.' 


28  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

^Ethiopia  shall  stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God. 


CONVERSATION   III. 


"  How  are  we  astonished  when  we  reflect  that  to  the  race  of  Negroes,  at 
present  our  slaves,  and  the  object  of  our  extreme  contempt,  we  owe  our 
arts  and  sciences  and  even  the  very  use  of  speech  ;  and  that  in  the  midst  of 
those  nations  who  call  themselves  the  friends  of  liberty  and  humanity,  invo 
luntary  servitude  is  justified,  while  it  is  even  a  problem  whether  the  un 
derstanding  of  Negroes  be  of  the  same  species  with  that  of  white  men." 

Volney. 


1  WELL,  Pa,  I  suppose  you  remember  the  encouragement 
which  you  gave  us  that  you  would  resume  the  interesting 
subject  of  Africa  this  evening?'  said  Caroline,  as  sh?  saw 
her  father  lay  aside  the  '  Evening  News'  and  remove  his 
spectacles  from  his  eyes,  the  well  known  signal  to  the  chil 
dren  that  the  hour  of  leisure  was  come.  *  You  closed  the 
conversation,  this  morning,  with  reference  to  that  important 
prediction  of  Scripture,  "  Ethiopia  shall  soon  stretch  out 
her  hands  unto  God:"  are  we  to  understand  the  Prophet 
who  utters  this,  to  have  reference  to  Africa  generally,  or  to 
the  descendants  of  Gush,  the  grandson  of  Noah  only  ?' 

*  The  word  ^Ethiopia  in  our  English  Bibles,  it  is  true,  is 
Cush  in  the  original  Hebrew ;  but  the  term  seems  to  have 
a  more  extended  application  than  the  names  of  either  of 
Ham's  other  sons.  Cush,  or  ^Ethiopia,  is  a  name  by  which 
Africans  in  general  have  been  known.  Whether  it  is  be 
cause  the  race  of  Africans  are  mostly  descendants  of  Cush, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  29 

Colour  of  Africans. 

which  I  think  highly  probable,  that  this  term  is  more  used, 
I  am  not  able  to  determine  ;  but  such  is  the  fact — ^Ethiopia 
is  a  term  of  extensive  application.' 

Henry  having  here  inquired  '  whether  the  Cushites,  or 
^Ethiopians,  were  always  black,'  Mr.  L.  replied, 

'  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  people  were  black  as 
long  ago  as  the  days  of  Jeremiah ;  and,  if  we  are  to  credit 
Arabian  testimonies,  ages  before.  Jeremiah  asks,  "  Can  the 
Cushite  (^Ethiopian)  change  his  skin?"  ^Ethiopian  is  a 
name  derived  from  two  Greek  words  denoting  the  colour  of 
the  skin,  (*/$•«,  to  burn,  and  «#,  the  countenance — that  is, 
burnt-face,}  on  account  of  the  Cushites  dark  complexion.' 

1  What,'  asked  Henry,  '  was  the  complexion  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians  ;  were  they  black  also  V 

1  Heroditus,  who,  you  know,  is  called  the  father  of  histo 
ry,  says,  speaking  of  the  ancient  Colchos,  since  called  Min- 
grelia,  whose  inhabitants  were  originally  Egyptians,  and  co 
lonized  when  Sesostris,  king  of  Egypt,  extended  his  con 
quests  in  the  north, — "  For  my  part,  I  believe  the  Colchi  to 
be  a  colony  of  Egyptians,  because,  like  them,  they  have 
black  skins  and  frizzled  hair.1' 

1  The  inhabitants  of  Egypt,  however,  have  long  been  a 
mixed  community  of  Copts,  Arabs,  Greeks,  Armenians, 
Turks,  and  Mamelukes.  The  Copts  are  supposed  to  be  the 
representatives  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  prove  their 
origin  by  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  paintings  and  sculp 
tures  of  the  ancient  temples,  and  to  the  mummies.  They 
are  generally  described  as  of  a  dusky  complexion,  dark  and 
curled  hair,  thick  lips,  and  scanty  beard.  In  some  features, 
they  differ  from  the  Negro  race  on  the  western  coast  of  Af 
rica,  and  in  the  interior.  There  are,  indeed,  slight  shades  of 

B2 


30  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Different  tribes  of  Africa  assimilated. 

variety  which  distinguish  all  the  different  tribes  of  Africa.  It 
may  not  be  necessary  to  enter  on  a  particular  description 
of  each.  However  diversified  may  be  the  different  tribes, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  their  common  origin  as  descendants 
of  Ham,  if  we  except  those  who  have  from  time  to  time  mi 
grated  from  other  portions  of  the  earth  ;  nor  can  there  be 
any  reasonable  doubt  that  the  African  "  Gush,"  or  "  JEthio- 
pia,"  is  the  appropriate  term  or  representative  of  the  African 
race  in  general.  Commentators  differ,  it  is  true,  in  respect 
to  the  countries  which  were  originally  included  under  the 
name  '  ^Ethiopia ;'  Michaelis  supposes  it  to  include  African 
^Ethiopia  and  Southern  Arabia  ;  Gesenius  says  it  is  to  be 
confined  in  its  application  to  Africa  alone.  Rosenmiiller 
contends  that  it  embraces  all  countries  whose  inhabitants 
were  black. 

«  There  is,  certainly,  a  striking  accordance  of  complexion, 
language,  manners,  customs,  &c.  by  which  the  inhabitants  of 
the  south  and  west  of  Africa,  and  all  those  who  are  known 
to  be  of  ^Ethiopian  extraction,  are  assimilated.' 

4  The  complexion  of  Africans  is  caused  by  climate,  is  it 
not,  Pa  ?' 

1 1  suspect,  Henry,  that  neither  the  African  complexion, 
nor  features,  can  be  ascribed  wholly  to  climate ;  but  must  be 
referred  to  native  variety  at  first,  perpetuated  by  intermar 
riages  among  the  same  race.' 

4  Just,  I  suppose,  as  a  part  of  the  same  brood  being  white 
and  a  part  black,  each  sort  may  be  perpetuated,  as  naturalists 
tell  us,  by  pairing  together  those  of  the  same  colour?'  said 
Henry. 

Caroline  here  remarked,  that  « Mr.  Bruce,  the  traveller. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  31 

Tradition  respecting  Gush — Obscurity  of  the  early  hislory  of  Africans. 

says,  he  found  in  Africa  a  tradition  which  had  been  handed 
down  from  time  immemorial,  that  Gush  was  their  father, 
and  that  he  actually  dwelt  there  ;  but  this  was  in  Abyssinia. 
The  tradition  purports  that,  soon  after  the  flood,  Gush,  the 
grandson  of  Noah,  with  his  family,  still  terrified  with  the  re 
membrance  of  the  flood,  and  fearing  a  repetition  of  the  same 
calamity,  dared  not  remain  in  the  plains,  but  travelled  until 
he  came  to  certain  mountains  in  Abyssinia,  and  there  settled. 
It  says,  further,  that  there  Gush  and  his  people,  (with  inde 
scribable  labour,  requiring  arts  and  instruments  utterly  un 
known  to  us,)  formed  themselves  commodious  and  wonderful 
habitations,  composed  of  solid  granite  and  marble,  which 
dwellings  are  now  entire,  and  will  remain  so  till  the  consum 
mation  of  all  things ;  and  that  still  avoiding  the  low  conn- 
tries,  they  advanced  along  the  different  ridges  and  chains  of 
mountains  across  the  whole  continent  of  Africa. 

*  The  more  Henry  and  I  examine  into  this  subject,  how 
ever,  the  more  difficult  it  seems  to  determine  satisfactorily 
and  beyond  the  possibility  of  contradiction,  which,  if  either, 
alone,  of  the  sons  of  Ham,  is  entitled  to  the  honour  of  being 
considered  the  principal  progenitor  of  the  African  race.  We 
have  felt  great  curiosity,  since  our  last  conversation,  to  find 
from  the  books  the  arguments  which  go  to  show  that  the 
Africans,  as  the  descendants  of  Canaan,  are  suffering  their 
present  degradation  in  fulfilment  of  the  curse  pronounced  by 
Noah.  Our  examination  only  renders  "  darkness  more  visi 
ble."  One  author  quotes  from  Procopius,  if  I  recollect,  who 
says,  that  when  the  Canaanites  were  driven  from  their  coun 
try  by  the  Israelites,  they  first  retreated  into  Egypt,  and 
gradually  penetrated  the  continent  of  Africa,  where  they 
built  many  cities,  and  spread  themselves  over  vast  regions, 
till  they  reached  the  straits  of  Gibraltar.  This  would  em 
brace  the  whole  northern  part  of  Africa,  or  the  Barbary 


32  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY, 

Gush  and  Canaan. 

States.  This  author  says,  that  in  the  ancient  city  of  Tongis, 
founded  by  them,  were  two  great  pillars  of  white  stone, 
near  a  large  fountain,  inscribed  with  Phoenician  characters, 
"  We  are  people  preserved  by  flight  from  the  robber  Jesus, 
(Joshua,)  the  son  of  Naver,  who  pursued  us."  Another 
author  says,  "  in  the  time  of  Athanasius,  the  Africans  con 
tinued  to  say  that  they  were  descended  from  the  Canaanites, 
and  when  asked  their  origin,  they  answered  «  Canani.'  " 

*  All  this,'  said  Mr.  L.,  'is  in  corroboration  of  the  position 
which  1  have  taken.  Admitting  that  the  Canaanites  mingled 
with  other  tribes  in  Egypt  and  all  along  the  coast  of  the  Me 
diterranean  to  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar,  still  we  must  look  for 
the  peopling  of  the  vast  interior  of  Africa,  and  the  west  and 
south,  from  another  source.  It  is  almost  a  matter  of  demon 
stration,  that  the  Cushites  settled  the  greater  part  of  Africa  ; 
for  such  is  the  geographical  situation  of  the  country,  as  you 
will  see  at  once  by  the  map,  that  the  natives  bordering  the 
Mediterranean  coast,  are  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  con 
tinent  by  an  almost  boundless  and  impassable  wilderness — 
the  Lybian  desert  and  the  great  desert  of  Sahara,  which,  to 
gether,  extend  across  the  continent  from  the  west  of  Egypt 
to  the  Atlantic  ocean.  The  deserts  are  an  ocean  of  sand, 
and  in  some  places  eight  hundred  miles  in  breadth.  This, 
the  only  highway  to  the  south  and  interior  of  Africa,  was 
occupied  by  the  Cushites,  who  had  nothing  to  prevent  them 
from  spreading  into  all  regions  south  now  occupied  by  the 
Negro  race. 

« It  makes  but  little  difference,  however,  from  which  of  the 
grandsons  of  Noah  the  natives  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  part 
of  Africa  are  descended.  There  is  intellect  among  them  all. 
They  have  had  their  distinguished  men  in  every  tribe,  so  far 
as  we  have  known  any  thing  concerning  the  different  tribes, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  33 

All  must  be  freee — Interior  of  Africa  but  little  known. 

and  there  is,  and  can  be  no  impediment,  no  anathema  of  hea 
ven,  no  forfeiture  of  their  right  as  men  among  men,  which 
can  justify  their  being  torn  from  the  scenes  of  domestic  life, 
from  country  and  home,  to  spend  their  days  in  bondage. 
There  is  nothing,  and  can  be  nothing  to  annul  and  defeat  the 
decree  which  sounds  from  the  throne  of  the  Eternal, 
"^Ethiopia  shall  soon  stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God."  ' 

( I  have  no  doubt,  Pa,  that  the  view  which  you  have  taken 
of  the  subject  is  correct.  I  think  it  is,  on  the  whole,  of  very 
little  importance  whether  most  of  the  blood  of  Gush,  or  Ca 
naan,  of  Mizraim,  or  Phut,  runs  in  the  veins  of  the  present 
population  of  Africa.  It  seems  that  they  have  been  higher 
than  they  now  are  in  the  scale  of  intellectual  and  moral  at 
tainments,  and  they  may  yet  rise  again  for  aught  we  know. 
I  have  the  impression,  Pa,  that  very  little  of  the  interior  of 
Africa  is  at  present  known  by  the  people  of  other  countries?' 

'  Yes,  my  daughter,  very  little,  comparatively.  Bruce, 
Ledyard,  Park,  Riley,  Bowdich,  Denham,  Clapperton, 
Laing,  the  Landers,  and  numerous  adventurers  have  from 
time  to  time  added  to  our  store  of  information  ;  but  still  com 
paratively  little  is  known.  To  penetrate  far  into  the  heart 
of  Africa  has  been  found  so  difficult  and  arduous  a  perform 
ance,  that  it  has  been  but  very  partially  accomplished.  Still, 
enough  is  known  of  Africa  in  respect  to  her  ancient  glory, 
and  her  present  susceptibility  of  mental  and  moral  impres 
sions,  to  authorize  the  expectation  that  she  may  be  raised  to 
a  high  rank  of  moral  worth,  and  of  intellectual  respectability. 

'  That  continent  which,  notwithstanding  her  present  de 
gradation,  is  pronounced  in  history  by  common  consent  the 
birth-place  and  cradle  of  civilization  and  of  the  arts  and 
sciences,  cannot  always,  must  not  long  be  shrouded  in  dark 
ness,  and  borne  down  by  oppression.  Seeing  what  Africa 


34  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Africa's  ancient  glory — Light  from  Africa  on  other  lands. 

has  been,  and  what  she  may  yet  be,  our  sympathies  must 
enkindle  towards  her.  It  cannot  be  otherwise  than  that  they 
will. 

4  The  Cushites,  or  ^Ethiopians,  let  me  tell  you,  established 
the  first  regular  police  which  history  records.  The  first 
great  city  described  in  history  was  built  by  them.  They 
surrounded  it  with  walls,  which,  according  to  Rollin,  were 
eighty-seven  feet  in  thickness,  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in 
height,  and  four  hundred  and  eighty  furlongs  in  circumfer 
ence.  And  even  this  stupendous  work  they  shortly  after 
eclipsed  by  another,  of  which  Diodorus  says,  "  Never  did 
any  city  come  up  to  the  greatness  and  magnificence  of  this. 
Pyramids,  obelisks,  and  mausolea  still  stand,  as  if  in  mocke 
ry  of  the  very  credulity  of  man,  a  memorial  of  that  spirit  of 
daring  enterprise  and  skill  which  made  Egypt  the  mother  of 
science,  and,  for  a  time,  the  mistress  of  the  world !" 

*  It  is  a  fact  well  attested  by  history,  that  ./Ethiopians 
once  bore  sway  not  only  in  all  Africa,  but  over  almost  all 
Asia.  And  it  is  said  that  even  two  continents  could  not  afford 
field  enough  for  the  expansion  of  their  energies.  "  They 
found  their  way  into  Europe,  and  made  the  settlement  on 
the  western  coast  of  Spain,  called  from  them  '  Iberian  ^Ethio 
pia.'  '  And,  says  a  distinguished  writer,  "  wherever  they 
went,  they  were  rewarded  for  their  wisdom." 

'That  very  light  which  long  since  blazed  before  the  world 
in  Greece  and  Rome,  and  which  now  rises  to  its  noon-day 
splendour,  under  the  auspices  of  Christianity,  in  Europe  and 
America,  be  it  remembered,  my  dear  children,  was  kindled 
on  the  dark  shores  of  Africa.  When  I  think  of  these  things, 
my  spirit  stirs  within  me,  and  I  am  almost  impatient  to  see 
that  light  reflected  back  on  Africa  again — yes,  the  light  of 
science  combined  with  the  glorious  light  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  35 

Great  reverses  often  in  the  history  of  nations. 


CONVERSATION  IV. 


"  Cruel  as  death,  insatiate  as  the  grave, 

False  as  the  winds  that  round  his  vessel  blow, 

Remorseless  as  the  gulf  that  yawns  below, 

Is  he  who  toils  upon  the  wafting  flood, 

A  Christian  broker  in  the  trade  of  blood." — Montgomery. 


'  I  AM  glad,  Pa,'  said  Caroline  to  her  father,  who  had  given 
intimation  of  his  disposition  to  take  up  the  subject  again 
after  tea,  and  who  had  just  risen  from  the  table  and  seated 
himself  in  his  chair  by  the  fire,  *  that  we  may  again  claim  a 
little  of  your  time,  and  tax  your  kindness  to  tell  us  more  of 
Africa.  I  shall  certainly  think  more  of  that  much  injured 
quarter  of  the  globe  for  the  time  to  come,  and  shall  abhor 
slavery  more  than  ever.  What  strange  reverses  there  are  in 
the  history  of  man !  We  should  never  suppose  from  any 
thing  that  is  seen  in  Africa  now,  that  she  was  ever  distin 
guished  for  any  thing  but  ignorance,  barbarism,  and  bru 
tality.' 

'  There  is  much,  my  daughter,  to  be  seen  in  Africa  even 
noiv,  of  her  former  greatness.  There  is  yet  to  be  found  ho 
nour,  bravery,  intellect,  genius,  learning,  and  rank.  We 
have  had  proof  of  this  from  among  those  who,  as  victims  of 
our  cupidity,  have  been  transported  as  slaves  to  this  boasted 
land  of  freedom*  Amongst  them  have  been  torn  away,  in 


36  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Much  yet  to  admire  in  Africa. — Africa's  distinguished  ones. 

some  instances,  the  Princes  of  Africa,  and  others  of  her  dis 
tinguished  ones.  They  came  oppressed,  their  noble  spirits 
broken  down,  the  whole  man  subdued  by  the  extinction  of 
the  last  ray  of  hope,  severed  from  all  on  earth  most  dear, 
and  stepped  upon  these  shores  loaded  with  chains,  and,  it 
may  be,  bleeding  with  stripes ;  and  they  were  held  in  this 
"land  of  the  free,"  in  cruel  bondage — among  a  people  of 
strange  tongue — placed  on  a  level  with  the  most  degraded  of 
the  miserable — tasked — and  it  is  possible,  for  it  is  often  as 
serted,  lashed  to  quicken  them  in  their  heartless  toil :  but 
notwithstanding  all,  they  have  discovered  still,  under  all 
these  almost  insupportable  causes  of  depression,  the  linea 
ments  of  a  noble  spirit,  a  lofty  mind !  Although  they  came 
from  a  country  where  despotism  and  paganism  exert  all  their 
influence  to  sink  the  human  character,  these  men  have  held 
the  pen  of  a  ready  scribe,  and  spoken  with  the  tongue  of  the 
eloquent — writing  the  Arabic,  and  the  language  of  their  re 
spective  tribes,  with  facility  and  elegance,  and  uttering  the 
same  apparently  with  the  fluency  and  ease  of  the  distin 
guished  among  our  own  orators.' 

Henry  here  mentioned  that  he  had  *  lately  read  an  account 
of  one  such  African,  called  PRINCE  Mono.  I  saw  it,'  said 
he,  '  in  an  old  number  of  a  file  of  the  Episcopal,  or  Phila 
delphia  Recorder.  Annexed  were  some  remarks  of  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  Bedell,  of  that  city,  who  also  certified  to  the  truth 
of  the  article,  he  having  known  Prince  and  often  conversed 
with  him  at  the  south.' 

Mr.  L.  recollected  the  case  of  Prince  Moro  very  well ; 
and  was  able  at  once  to  refer  to  a  number  of  the  Christian 
Advocate,  where  was  found  recorded,  on  the  authority  of  a 
gentleman  of  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  at  which  place 
Prince  resided,  the  following  outlines  of  his  history : 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  37 

Prince  Moro. 

"  Aboutthe  year  1808,  a  South  Carolina  planter  purchased 
a  gang  of  slaves,  among  whom  was  a  man  of  a  slender  frame 
and  delicate  constitution,  who  was  not  able  to  labour  in  the 
field,  or  had  not  the  disposition  to  do  so.  His  health  failing, 
he  was  considered  of  no  value,  and  disregarded.  At  length 
he  strolled  off,  and  wandering  from  plantation  to  planta 
tion,  reached  Fayetteville,  was  taken  up  as  a  runaway, 
and  put  in  jail,  where  he  remained  some  time.  As  no  one 
claimed  him,  and  he  appeared  of  no  value,  the  jail  was 
thrown  open  that  he  might  run  away ;  but  he  had  no  dispo 
sition  to  make  his  escape.  The  boys  amused  themselves 
with  his  good-natured,  playful  behaviour,  and  fitted  up  a 
temporary  desk,  made  of  a  flour  barrel,  on  which  he  wrote 
in  a  masterly  hand,  writing  from  right  to  left,  in  what  was,  to 
them,  an  unknown  language.  He  was  also  noticed  by  some 
gentlemen  of  the  place ;  but  his  keeper  grew  tired  of  so 
useless  a  charge,  and  he  was  publicly  sold  for  his  jail  dues. 

"  His  purchaser,  a  gentleman  living  about  thirty  miles  from 
Fayetteville,  finding  him  rather  of  a  slender  make,  took  him 
into  his  family  as  a  house  servant.  Here  he  soon  became  a 
favourite  of  the  inmates  of  the  house.  His  good  conduct  in 
a  short  time  put  him  in  possession  of  all  his  master's  stores, 
and  he  gradually  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  English  lan 
guage.  His  master  being  a  pious  man,  he  was  instructed  in 
the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  he  received 
with  great  pleasure ;  and  he  seemed  to  see  beauties  in 
the  plan  of  the  gospel,  which  had  never  appeared  to  him  in 
the  Koran ;  for  he  had  been  reared  and  instructed  in  the  Ma- 
homedan  religion,  and  it  was  found  that  the  scraps  of  writ 
ing  from  his  pen  were  mostly  passages  from  the  Koran.  It 
would  seem  that  he  was  a  PRINCE  in  his  own  country,  which 
must  have  been  far  in  the  interior  of  Africa — perhaps  Tom- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 


Prince  Moro. 


buctoo  or  its  neighbourhood.  At  all  events,  his  intercourse 
with  the  Arabs  had  enabled  him  to  write  and  to  speak  their 
language  with  the  most  perfect  ease. 

"  Some  of  the  Africans  pretend  to  say  he  was  what  they 
call  a  lpray-God  to  the  king,'  by  which  may  be  understood, 
a  priest  or  learned  man,  who  offers  up  prayers  for  the  king 
of  his  nation,  and  is  of  his  household.  His  dignified  de 
portment  showed  him  to  be  of  a  superior  cast — his  humility, 
that  of  a  peaceful  subject,  not  a  despot.  In  his  person  he  is 
well  formed,  of  a  middle  size,  small  hands  and  feet,  and 
erect  in  his  deportment.  His  complexion  and  hair,  as  well 
as  the  form  of  the  head,  are  distinctly  of  the  African  cha 
racter.  Some  years  since,  he  united  himself  to  the  Presby 
terian  church  in  Fayetteville,  of  which  he  continues  an 
orderly  and  respectable  member.  A  gentleman  who  felt  a 
strong  interest  for  the  good  Prince  Moro,  as  he  is  called, 
sent  to  the  British  Bible  Society,  and  procured  for  him  an 
Arabic  Bible ;  so  that  he  now  reads  the  Scriptures  in  his  na 
tive  language,  and  blesses  Him  who  causes  good  to  come  out 
of  evil,  by  making  him  a  slave." 

*  Pa,  has  Prince  since  returned  to  his  native  land  ?' 

'  I  suspect  not,  Caroline.  His  good  master  offered  to  send 
him  to  his  native  land,  his  home,  and  his  friends  ;  but  he 
said,  "  No, — this  is  my  home,  and  here  are  my  friends,  and 
here  is  my  Bible ;  I  enjoy  all  I  want  in  this  world.  If  I 
should  return  to  my  native  land,  the  fortune  of  war  might 
transport  me  to  a  country  where  I  should  be  deprived  of  the 
greatest  of  all  blessings,  that  of  worshipping  the  true  and 
living  God,  and  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  whom  to  worship  and 
serve  is  eternal  life."  ' 

'  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  with  eyes  glistening  in  moisture,  *  the 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  39 

Prince  Ahduht  Rahahman. 

gentleman  who  bought  Prince,  and  used  him  so  kindly,  and 
instructed  him,  must  have  felt  amply  rewarded  and  greatly 
happy  to  find  this  poor  Mahomedan  become  an  humble  fol 
lower  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  And  it  would  seem  almost  as  if 
Cowper  had  written  expressly  to  suit  the  case  of  Prince, 
speaking  the  very  feeling  of  his  heart,  and  almost  his  very 
words,  in  those  lines, 

"  My  dear  deliverer  out  of  hopeless  night, 

Whose  bounty  bought  me  but  to  give  rne  light ; 

I  was  a  bondman  on  my  native  plain, 

Sin  forged,  and  ignorance  made  fast  the  chain  ; 

Thy  lips  have  shed  instruction  as  the  dew, 

Taught  me  what  path  to  shun,  and  what  pursue  ; 

Farewell  my  former  joys!  I  sigh  no  more 

For  Africa's  once  loved,  benighted  shore ; 

Serving  a  benefactor,  I  am  free, 

At  my  best  home,  if  not  exiled  from  thee !" 

Henry  said,  '  Dr.  Bedell  stated  that  Prince  had  been  edu 
cated  at  Tombuctoo,  and  that  he  could  write  Arabic  in  a 
most  beautiful  manner.  He  composed  a  history  of  his  own 
life,  said  Dr.  B.,  which  was  sent  to  some  of  our  literary  in 
stitutions.  Prince  belonged  to  the  Foulah  tribe.' 

i  A  more  interesting  case  still,'  said  Mr.  L.,  'is  that  of  the 
Moorish  Prince,  ABDUHL  RAHAHMAN,  who  was  sent  out  to 
Liberia,  a  few  years  since,  by  the  American  Colonization 
Society,  but  who  died  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Africa.  He 
was  a  slave  in  this  country  nearly  forty  years,  and  then  ob 
tained  his  freedom. 

'  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  Tombuctoo,  in  1762.  His 
uncle  was  a  king.  His  father  was  governor  of  Footah 
Jallo  for  a  time,  and  then  on  the  colony  becoming  independ 
ent,  was  king  of  Footah  Jallo.  Prince,  after  completing  his 
education,  entered  his  father's  army,  soon  rose  to  distinction, 


40  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Abduhl's  Father  and  Dr.  Cox. 

was  appointed  to  the  command  of  an  army,  and  marched 
against  the  Hebohs,  a  tribe  at  the  north  of  Footah  Jallo, 
He  entered  their  country  to  punish  them  for  destroying  ves 
sels  that  came  to  the  coast,  and  for  preventing  the  trade. 
Having  put  the  Hebohs  to  flight,  and  set  their  towns  on  fire, 
he  commenced  his  retreat;  the  Hebohs  rallied,  however,  and 
by  a  circuitous  route  and  rapid  marches,  intercepted  him, 
and  ambushed  themselves  in  a  narrow  defile  of  a  mountain 
through  which  Prince  was  to  pass.  The  consequence  was, 
that  Prince  and  a  part  of  his  array  were  made  prisoners,  and 
sold  to  the  Mandingoes,  and  finally  sold  by  them  to  a  slave- 
ship,  on  the  coast. 

4  Prince  was  brought  to  this  country,  and  sold  to  a  gentle 
man  residing  at  Natchez,  Mississippi.  During  the  whole 
time  of  his  bondage,  Prince  was  never  known  to  be  intoxi 
cated  or  guilty  of  a  falsehood,  or  of  a  dishonest  or  mean  ac 
tion.  He  submitted  to  his  fate  without  a  murmur,  and  was 
an  industrious  and  faithful  servant,  intelligent,  modest,  and 
obliging  to  all.  His  manners  are  represented  as  not  only 
prepossessing,  but  dignified.  Though  born  and  raised  in 
affluence,  and  now  reduced  to  abject  servitude,  he  bare  his 
trials  all  with  fortitude,  and  carried  still 

"  A  noble  raein." 

'  The  story  of  his  life,  which  is  eventful  and  interesting, 
we  have  from  his  own  mouth,  corroborated  by  a  train  of 
circumstances  and  events  which,  in  their  order  and  develop 
ment,  are  truly  remarkable. 

*  Dr.  Cox,  late  a  distinguished  physician  in  Natchez,  was, 
in  his  early  days,  a  surgeon  on  board  a  ship  which  visited 
the  coast  of  Africa.  Dr.  Cox,  in  one  of  his  excursions  on 
shore,  got  lost,  and  the  ship  sailed  and  left  him.  In  his 
wanderings,  Dr.  C.  came  to  Footah  Jallo.  The  people  saw 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  41 

Prince  and  Dr.  Cox. 

him,  and  ran  and  told  the  king,  of  the  "  white  man."  The 
king  ordered  Dr.  C.  to  be  brought  to  him.  Prince  accom 
panied  the  Dr.  to  his  father's  house,  where  he  was  hospita 
bly  treated,  and  during  a  long  and  painful  sickness,  was  at 
tended  with  the  utmost  kindness  and  humanity.  After  his 
recovery  from  sickness,  Dr.  C.  was  conveyed  by  his  hos 
pitable  host  and  attendants,  to  the  sea-shore,  where  he  found 
a  ship  and  returned  to  this  country.  Prince  had  been  six 
teen  years  a  slave  in  this  country  when  Dr.  Cox  removed  to 
Natchez,  and  he  and  Prince  met  and  'recognised  each  other 
in  the  streets  of  that  city. 

1  Prince's  account  of  Dr.  Cox's  residence  in  his  father's 
family,  and  of  his  interview  with  Dr.  Cox  on  their  first  meet 
ing  in  Natchez,  is  deeply  affecting.  Prince  says,  that  when 
Dr.  Cox  was  brought  to  his  father,  "  he  was  asked  where 
he  was  going  ?  The  Dr.  said  he  did  not  know  where  to 
go — he  was  lost — the  ship  had  left  him — and  he  had  a  bad 
sore  leg,  which  he  had  wounded  in  travelling.  My  father 
told  him  he  had  better  go  no  further,  but  stay  with  him, 
and  he  would  get  a  woman  to  cure  his  leg.  It  was  soon 
cured.  My  father  told  him  to  stay  as  long  as  he  chose. 
He  remained  six  months.  One  day  my  father  asked  him 
if  he  wished  to  go  to  his  own  country.  He  said  yes* 
My  father  said,  what  makes  you  desire  to  go  back,  you 
are  treated  well  here  ?  He  answered,  that  his  father  and 
mother  would  be  anxious  when  the  vessel  returned  without 
him,  thinking  he  might  be  dead.  My  father  told  him, 
*  whenever  you  wish  to  go,  I  will  send  a  guard  to  accom 
pany  you  to  the  ship.'  Then  fifteen  men  were  sent  with 
him  by  my  father  for  a  guard,  and  he  gave  the  Doctor  gold 
to  pay  his  passage  home.  My  father  told  the  guard,  that 
if  a  vessel  was  there,  they  must  leave  the  Doctor,  but 
must  not  go  on  board  the  ship ;  and  if  there  was  no  vessel, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 


Dr.  Cox  endeavours  to  free  Prince.  —  Prince's  account  of  his  capture. 

they  must  bring  the  Doctor  back.  They  waited  some 
time,  and  then  found  the  same  vessel  in  which  he  came, 
and  he  went  on  board." 

*  Prince-  continues,  "  After  that,  I  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
sent  to  Natchez.  When  I  had  been  there  sixteen  years, 
Dr.  Cox  removed  to  Natchez,  and  one  day  I  met  him  in 
the  street.  I  said  to  a  man  who  came  with  me  from  Afri 
ca,  '  Sambo,  that  man  rides  like  a  white  man  I  saw  in  my 
country.  See,  when  he  rides  by  ;  if  he  opens  but  one  eye, 
that  is  the  same  man.'  When  he  came  up,  hating  to  stop 
him  without  reason,  I  said,  *  Master,  do  you  want  to  buy 
some  potatoes  ?'  While  he  looked  at  the  potatoes  I  knew 
him,  but  he  did  not  know  me.  He  said,  '  Boy,  where  did 
you  come  from?'  I  said,  'from  Col.  F.'s.'  He  said 
1  Col.  F.  did  not  raise  you  ?'  Then  he  said,  '  You  came 
from  Teembo  ?'  I  answered,  'yes.'  He  said,  'your 
name  is  Abduhl  Rahahman?'  Then  springing  from  his 
horse  he  embraced  me,  and  inquired  how  I  came  to  this 
country.  Then  he  said,  '  Dash  down  your  potatoes,-  and 
come  to  my  house.'  He  rode  quick,  and  called  a  negro- 
woman  to  take  the  potatoes  from  my  head.  Then  he  sent 
for  Gov.  W.  to  come  and  see  me.  When  Gov.  W.  came, 
Dr.  Cox  said,  '  I  have  been  to  this  man's  father's  house, 
and  they  treated  me  as  kindly  as  my  own  parents.'  The 
next  morning  he  tried  to  purchase  me,  but  my  master  was 
unwilling  to  sell  me.  He  offered  large  sums  for  me,  but 
they  were  refused.  Then  he  said  to  master,  '  If  you  will 
not  part  with  him,  use  him  well.'  After  that,  Dr.  Cox 
died,  and  his  son  offered  a  great  price  for  me." 

'  Prince's  own  account  of  his  capture  is  also  interesting. 
When  returning  from  the  country  of  the  Hebohs,  it  seems, 
he  was  unapprehensive  of  any  enemy  being  near,  and,  he 
says,  "  We  dismounted  and  led  our  horses  until  we  were  half 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVE. 


Prince  is  carried  to  W.  Indies  and  JM.'itchez., 


way  up  the  mountain.  Then  they  fired  upon  us.  We 
saw  the  smoke,  we  heard  the  guns,  and  saw  the  people- 
drop  down.  I  told  every  one  to  run  until  we  reached  the 
top  of  the  hill,  then  to  wait  for  each  other  until  all  came 
there,  and  we  would  fight  them.  They  followed  us,  and 
we  ran  and  fought.  I  saw  that  this  would  not  do.  I  told 
every  one  to  run  who  wished  to  do  so..  I  said,  '  I  will  not 
run  for  an  African.'  I  got  down  from  my  horse,  and  set 
down.  One  came  behind,  and  shot  me  in  the  shoulder. 
One  came  before  and  pointed  his  gun  to  shoot  me,  but  see 
ing  my  clothes  ornamented  with  gold,  he  cried  out,  '  That! 
the  King.'  When  they  came  to  me,  I  had  a  sword  under 
me,  but  they  did  not  see  it.  The  first  one  that  came,  I  sprang 
forward  and  killed.  They  knocked  me  down  with  a  gun, 
and  I  fainted.  They  carried  me  to  a  pond  of  water,  and 
dipped  me  in.  After  I  came  to  myself,  they  bound  me, 
and  then  pulled  aft"  my  shoes  and  made  me  go  on  barefoot 
one  hundred  miles,  and  led  my  horse  before  me.  As  soon 
as  my  people  got  home,  my  father  raised  a  troop,  and 
came  after  me  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  Ilebohs  knew  that  he 
was  coming,  they  carried  me  into  the  wilderness.  My  fa 
ther  came  and  burnt  their  country.  They  carried  me  to 
the  Mandingo  country,  on  the  Gambia,  and  sold  me,  with 
fifty  others,  to  an  English  ship.  They  took  me  to  the 
Island  of  Dominica  ;  after  that,  I  was  taken  to  New  Orleans, 
then  to  Natchez." 

4  Prince  was  educated  a  Mohamedan,  but  was  friendly  dis 
posed  to  the  Christian  religion,  admiring  the  precepts  of  the 
Bible,  but  asserting  that  Christians  do  not  follow  them  ! 

1  After  the  liberation  of  Prince,  whilst  preparing  for  his  re 
turn  to  Africa,  he  visited  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  there 
found  an  aged  African  who  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  army 
of  his  father  !  He,  whose  present  name  was  Sterling,  cor^ 
roborated  many  particulars  which  I  have  now  related  con 
cerning  Prince.' 


44  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Remains  of  Africa's  former  glory. 


CONVERSATION   V. 


"•  Breathes  there  the  man,  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said, 

This  is  my  own,  my  native  land  ! 
Whose  heart  hath  ne'er  within  him  burned, 
As  home  his  footsteps  he  hath  turned  ?" — Scoll. 


'  WELL,  Henry,  where  is  Caroline  ? — O,  here  she  comes — 
Well,  Caroline,  you  are  not  wearied,  I  hope,  with  the  sub 
ject  of  Africa  ?' 

4  Pa,  indeed  I  am  not.  I  am  always  glad  to  see  the  hour 
return  when  we  may  resume  the  subject.  The  case  of 
Prince  Moro,  which  you  mentioned  to  us,  last  evening,  was 
truly  interesting.  It  seems  greatly  desirable  that  he  should 
have  lived  a  few  years  after  his  return  to  his  native  land,  al 
though,  at  his  time  of  life,  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  by 
him  or  his  friends  that  he  would  live  long  in  any  part  of  the 
world.' 

'  Yes :  it  appeared  desirable  that  he  should  live.  The 
ways  of  Providence,  however,  although  mysterious,  are 
wise.  It  is  said  that  Prince  Moro,  on  his  return  to  Africa, 
returned  also  to  the  Mahometan  faith.  If  so,  he  might  not 
have  essentially  aided  the  progress  of  the  christianization  of 
Africa,  had  his  life  been  spared/ 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  45 

Africa  destined  to  rise. — Travellers  in  Africa. 

*  It  seems  to  me,  Pa,  that  the  continent  of  Africa  presents 
to  the  mind  a  singular  combination  of  character,  taking-  into 
view  her  whole  history — that  is,  the  little  that  we  know 
of  it?' 

'  It  certainly  does  :  she  has  been  the  very  focus  of  litera 
ture  and  refinement,  and  also  has  afforded  the  very  worst 
specimens  of  barbarism.  We  see  there  the  greatest  ignor 
ance  and  debasement,  and  yet  even  now  find  evidence  also 
of  something  like  attention  to  learning,  and  hear  from  tra 
vellers  of  an  interior  where  are  magnificent  cities,  and  the 
splendours  of  wealth  and  power. 

1  The  history  of  Africa's  better  days,  and  the  present  re 
mains  of  her  former  glory,  encourage  the  hope  that  she  may 
again  recover  her  elevation,  notwithstanding  all  that  seems 
most  discouraging.  It  has  been  said  that  to  the  burning  his 
tory  of  Ancient  Greece,  more  than  to  any  other  cause,  Mo 
dern  Greece  is  indebted  for  any  spirit  of  liberty  and  im 
provement  with  which  she  may,  of  late  years,  have  appear 
ed  inspired.  Africa  may  yet  find  motive  to  action,  in  the 
thought  of  what  she  has  been,  whilst  her  past  history  may 
be  the  means  of  enlisting  the  sympathies  of  the  world  in 
her  behalf.  There  is  enough,  certainly,  in  her  history,  to 
throw  suspicion  on  the  frequent  charge  of  natural  inferiority 
of  her  children. 

'  Douglass,  in  his  work  on  Missions,  says,  "  There  are 
three  agents  which  will  soon  be  entwined  with  the  issues  of 
all  human  affairs,  and  are"  the  very  hinges  on  which  the 
moral  world  will  speedily  turn.  The  three  things  in  which 
the  present  age  excels  the  ancients,  are  the  Inductive  Phi 
losophy,  Printing,  and  Universal  Education."  When  these 
powers  come  to  bear  upon  Africa,  as  soon  they  will  with 
energy,  we  shall  see — at  least,  the  living  will  see  in  Africa 
a  new  world.* 


46  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Truth  and  Kit-lion  united  in  travels. 

1 1  wonder,  Pa,  what  degree  of  credit  we  are  to  give  to 
the  accounts  of  travellers  in  Africa.  If  they  have  not  in 
dulged  the  imagination  very  freely,  we  all  have  a  great  deal 
to  learn  yet  respecting  Africa's  present  state  ?' 

*  I  suspect  my  daughter  has  been  reading  a  little  more  re 
specting  this  people  of  "  obtuse  intellect,"  since  we  turned 
our  thoughts  in  these  conversations  to  the  subject?' 

*  I  have.    I  have  been  looking  over  such  works  as  I  can 
find.    Denham  and  Clapperton's  Expedition  I  think  is  very 
interesting.    I  have  also  been  looking  into  Bruce's  Travels, 
and  Riley  and  Adams.' 

«  In  answer  to  your  question — All  recent  discoveries  seem 
to  vindicate  the  veracity  of  Bruce,  although,  while  he  lived, 
it  was 'his  fate  to  be  doubted,  contradicted,  and  even  ridi 
culed  for  a  narrative  which  is  now  thought  to  be  true.  Riley 
and  Adams  are  doubtless  entitled  to  some  credit;  but  may 
not,  in  all  respects,  be  considered  so  good  authority  as  Den- 
ham  and  Clapperton. 

*  Africa  has  been  the  scene  of  much  fiction  in  times  past; 
the  unexplored  region  of  all  that  is  wonderful.     The  colour 
of  her  inhabitants — her  vast  and  impenetrable  deserts — and 
the  fate  of  those  who  attempted  to  explore  her  interior,  have 
served  at  the  same  time  to  inflame  the  curiosity  and  quicken 
the  imagination.  Hence,  vague  reports  of  paradisaical  beauty 
and  wonderful  fertility,  oases,  in  oceans  of  sand,  the   inac 
cessible  abodes  of  the  blest ;  and  rumours  of  supernatural 
wonders  seen  by  travellers  more  fortunate  than  others  ;  all 
which  are  to  be  regarded  as  mere  fiction.     The  accounts  of 
later  travellers  have   drawn  upon  the  imagination  less,  and 
are  to  be  considered  as  authentic. 

*  We  have,  without  doubt,  very  imperfect  ideas  as  yet,  of 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  47 

Africans  not  naturally  indolent. 

the  amount  of  Africa's  population,  her  resources,  or  her 
comparative  mental  energy.  That  whole  continent  will  yet, 
and  that  soon,  if  I  mistake  not,  become  the  fruitful  source  of 
amazing  interest,  and  the  scene  of  wonderful  develope* 
ments.' 

*  From  all  that  can  be  gathered  from  the  reports  of  tra 
vellers  and  from  our  own  observation,  do  you  not  think, 
Pa,  that  we  are  justified  in  the  inference  that  the  Africans 
are  naturally  an  extremely  indolent  race  ?' 

'  This  accusation  has  been  preferred  against  them,  and 
probably  with  greater  truth  than  usually  pertains  to  asser 
tions  of  those  who  would  deprive  the  race  of  every  good 
quality,  mental  or  social :  but  even  this  charge  is,  I  suspect, 
somewhat  exaggerated. 

'  All  people,  of  every  nation  and  colour,  are  indolent,  ex 
cept  as  stimulated  to  labour,  activity  and  enterprise  by  the 
spirit  of  property,  utility,  or  pleasure. 

"  The  best  of  men  have  ever  lov'd  repose." 

'  The  Negroes  of  Senegal  are  remarkably  industrious. 
Since  the  suppression  of  slavery  there,  their  villages  are 
rebuilt,  and  re-peopled,  and  there  is  the  show  of  a  com 
mendable  spirit  of  enterprise.  Unmolested  in  their  posses 
sions  and  enjoyments,  they  have  motive  to  industry.  The 
Abbe  Gregoire  says  of  the  inhabitants  of  Axiaim,  on  the 
Gold  Coast,  and  also  of  those  of  the  country  of  Boulam, 
that  "  they  are  industrious."  "  Those  of  the  country  of 
Jago,"  he  adds,  are  "  celebrated  for  an  activity  which  en 
riches  their  country.  Those  of  Cabomonte  and  of  Fido  are 
indefatigable  cultivators ;  economical  of  iheir  soil,  they 
scarcely  leave  a  foot-path  to  form  a  communication  between 


48  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Causes  of  indolence,  and  incentives  to  vice. 

the  different  possessions.     They  reap  one  day,  and  the  next 
day  sow  the  earth." 

*  In  many  parts  of  Africa  there  is  such  luxuriant  abund 
ance  of  all  that  is   necessary  to  the  sustenance  and  comfort 
of  its  inhabitants,  that  indolence  follows  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Besides,  they  are  often  exposed  to  continual  inroads  from 
their  enemies  ;  and  where  nothing  is  certain,  save  their  con 
stant  liability  to  surprise,  capture,  or  death,  the  same  evil 
follows — the  people  are  indolent,  for  there  is  no  incentive  to 
effort.     Many  of  those  we  see  in  our  own  country,  whether 
natives  of  Africa,  or  descendants  of  Africans,  have  acquired 
indolent  habits  through  the  force  of  circumstances  ;  but  no 
thing,  surely,  is  to  be  inferred  from  this  fact  to  the  dispar 
agement  of  Africans  more  favourably  situated. 

"Quis  enira  virtutem  ampleciitur  ipsam 
Prernia  si  tollas  ?" 

*  It  has  sometimes  been  supposed  that  this  portion  of  the 
human  race  are  also  more  inclined  to  vicious  habits   gene 
rally,  and  unruly  passions  than  others.     If  this  were  true,  it 
might   grow   out  of  the   circumstances  in  which   they  are 
placed.     Ignorance  and  crime  are  nearly  allied.     And  were 
there  no  other  cause,   habits  of  indolence   would   beget  all 
other  evils.     The  poet  has  shown  some  knowledge  of  hu 
man  nature  and  also  of  sound  philosophy,  who  said, 

"  O  mortal  man.  who  livest  here  by  toil, 

Do  not  complain  of  this  thy  hard  estate  : 

That,  like  an  emmet,  thou  must  ever  moil, 

Is  a  sad  sentence  of  an  ancient  date  ; 

And,  certes,  there  is  for  it  reason  great ; 

For,  though  sometimes  it  makes  thee  weep  and  wail, 

And  curse  thy  star,  and  early  drudge  and  late  ; 

Withonten  that  would  come  an  heavier  bale, 

Loose.life,  unruly  passions,  and  diseases  pale." 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  49 

African  bravery. — Henry  Diaz. 

'  The  Africans  are  not  only  generally  considered  consti 
tutionally  indolent,  but  cowardly,  are  they  not,  Pa?' 

'  The  Portuguese  historian,  Borros,  says  that  Negroes 
are,  in  his  opinion,  preferable  to  Swiss  soldiers,  whose  re 
putation  for  bravery  has  generally  stood  high.  In  1703,  the 
blacks  took  arms  for  the  defence  of  Guadaloupe,  and  "were 
more  useful  than  all  the  rest  of  the  French  troops."  At  the 
same  time,  they  bravely  defended  Martinico  against  the 
English.  The  honourable  conduct  of  the  Negroes  at  the 
siege  of  Savannah,  and  at  the  taking  of  Pensacola,  is  well 
known.  During  the  Revolution,  when  incorporated  with 
the  French  troops,  they  shared  their  danger  and  their  glory. 

1  You  probably  recollect  the  mention  of  Henry  Diaz,  who 
is  extolled  in  all  the  histories  of  Brazil :  he  was  a  Negro, 
and  once  a  slave.  He  became  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  sol 
diers  of  his  own  colour.  He  was  talented,  sagacious,  and 
brave.  In  battle,  struggling  against  vast  superiority  of  num 
bers,  and  perceiving  that  some  of  his  soldiers  were  discour 
aged  and  began  to  give  way,  he  thrust  himself  into  their 
midst,  and  crying  out,  '•Are  these  the  brave  companions  of 
Henry  Diaz  T  his  speech  and  example  inspired  them  anew 
with  courage,  and  the  enemy,  who  supposed  themselves  vic 
torious,  were  attacked  with  an  impetuosity  which  forced 
them  to  retreat  and  finally  to  capitulate. 

*  In  1745,  in  the  midst  of  his  exploits,  this  brave  man  had 
his  left  hand  wounded  by  a  ball ;   and  in  order  to  spare  the 
delay  of  dressing,  he  caused  it  to  be  amputated,  saying  that 
each  finger  of  his  right  hand  was  worth  a  left  hand  in 
combat.' 

*  I  suppose  that  in  other  moral  qualities,  they  may  not  be 
inferior,  naturally,  to  other  people ;  but  we  have  been  so 
much  accustomed  to  think  disparagingly  of  Africans,  that 

D 


50  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Bravery  and  other  qualities. — Moral  traits. 

the  force  of  habit  is  still  strong  notwithstanding  any  light 
which  is  shed  upon  the  understanding.  I  think,  however, 
that  I  am  fast  rising  above  prejudice.' 

1  Africans  are  capable,  I  doubt  not,  of  every  noble  trait  of 
character;  and  those  qualities  which  are  the  greatest  orna 
ment  to  humanity,  are  often  exhibited  by  them  to  our  admi 
ration. 

1  You  recollect  the  anecdote  which  Mr.  Newton  tells  of  a 
Negro  whom  he,  one  day,  accused  of  imposture  and  injus 
tice  ?  The  Negro,  with  wounded  pride,  replied,  "  Do  you 
take  me  for  a  white  man  ?" 

'Proyart,  in  his  history  of  Loango,  asserts  that  if  the  Ne 
groes  who  inhabit  the  coasts,  and  associate  with  white  men, 
are  inclined  to  fraud  and  other  vices,  those  who  have  not  had 
intercourse  with  the  whites,  are  humane,  obliging,  and  hos 
pitable.  Wadstrom,  who  boasts  of  their  friendship,  thinks 
their  sensibility  more  mild  and  affecting  than  that  of  the 
whites.  Captain  Wilson,  who  lived  among  them,  speaks 
highly  of  their  constancy  and  friendship  ;  they  shed  tears  at 
his  departure.  Goldberry  inveighs  against  the  presumption 
with  which  Europeans  despise  and  calumniate  nations,  im 
properly  called  savage,  among  whom  we  find  men  of  probity, 
models  of  filial,  conjugal  and  paternal  affection,  who  know  all 
the  energies  and  refinements  of  virtue  ;  among  whom  senti 
mental  impressions  are  more  deep,  because  they  observe, 
more  than  we,  the  dictates  of  nature,  and  know  how  to  sa 
crifice  personal  interests  to  the  ties  of  friendship.  Robin 
speaks  of  a  slave  of  Martinico,  who,  having  gained  money 
sufficient  to  purchase  his  own  freedom,  purchased  with  it 
his  mother's.  Mungo  Park  says,  the  most  horrible  out 
rage  that  can  be  committed  against  a  Negro,  is  to  curse  his 
father  or  his  mother,  or  to  speak  of  either  with  contempt. 
"  Strike  me,"  said  a  slave  to  his  master,  "  but  curse  not  my 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  51 

Louis  Desrouleaux. — Glance  at  Africa's  interior. 

mother  !"  Park  speaks  of  a  negress  having  lost  her  son, 
and  finding  consolation  in  the  fact  that  he  had  never  told  a 
lie.  Cassaux  relates,  that  a  Negro,  seeing  a  white  man  abuse 
his  father,  said,  "  carry  away  the  child  of  this  monster,  that 
it  may  not  learn  to  imitate  his  conduct."  Stedman  says, 
"several  Maroons"  had  been  condemned  to  the  gallows: 
one  had  the  offer  of  his  life,  on  condition  of  his  becoming 
the  executioner  of  his  fellows  ;  but  he  refused.  The  mas 
ter  ordered  one  of  his  negroes  to  perform  the  office. 
"  Wait,"  said  he,  "  until  I  get  ready."  He  then  went  into 
the  house,  took  a  hatchet,  and  cut  off  his  hand.  Then,  re 
turning,  he  said  to  his  master,  "  Order  me  to  be  the  execu 
tioner  of  my  comrade  !" 

*  There  is  an  interesting  anecdote  of  Louis  Desrouleaux, 
which  I  will  here  repeat.  Desrouleaux  was  once  a  slave. 
His  master,  who  was  possessed  of  great  riches,  had  been 
engaged  in  the  slave-trade.  He  became  poor  and  returned 
from  France  to  St.  Domingo,  where  his  slave,  Desrouleaux, 
had  become  free,  and  had  himself  acquired  a  fortune.  Pin- 
sum,  the  master,  was  scarcely  recognized  now,  by  those 
who  professed  for  him  great  friendship  when  he  was  rich. 
Desrouleaux  heard  of  his  old  master's  misfortunes,  hastened 
to  find  him,  supplied  him  with  honourable  lodging  and 
board,  and  then  proposed  to  him  that  he  would  be  most 
happy  living  in  France  where  his  feelings  would  not  be 
mortified  by  the  sight  of  ungrateful  men.  On  Pinsum  re 
plying,  '  I  cannot  find  subsistence  in  France,'  Desrouleaux 
asked,  if  an  annual  income  of  fifteen  thousand  francs  would 
suffice?  The  Frenchman  wept  with  joy — the  Negro  signed 
the  contract,  and  the  pension  was  regularly  paid. 

'  Before  we  close  this  conversation,  I  must  just  refer  to  one 
specimen  of  the  interior  of  Africa,  their  splendour,  arts,  in 
dustry,  genius,  regard  for  braveiy,  &c.  which  has  been  fur- 


52  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  Soliraa  camp. — Solima  song. 

nished  by  Lieut.  Laing,  of  the  British  Navy,  who,  under 
instructions  from  the  Governor  of  Sierra  Leone,  went  on  a 
mission  far  into  the  interior.  It  relates  to  his  visit  to  the 
Chief  of  the  Solimas,  King  Yaradee. 

4  After  visiting  different  chiefs  by  whom  he  was  well  re 
ceived,  Lieut.  Laing  came  to  a  place  called  Koukundi,  a  vil 
lage  of  farms  belonging  to  the  people  of  Melicouri.  Here 
he  remained  during  the  night,  and  early  in  the  morning  en 
tered  the  town  itself,  which  was  walled  round,  with  port 
holes  for  musquetry,  and  was  impregnable.  The  country 
in  the  neighbourhood  was  abundantly  productive,  and  in  a 
high  state  of  cultivation  ;  corn,  barley,  rice,  cassada,  and 
cotton  growing  in  great  profusion.  Lt.  L.  says  he  passed 
several  hundred  acres  of  such  cultivation. 

*  The  next  day,  he  proceeded  to  the  camp  which  was  about 
eight  miles  distant,  north,  and  about  three  hours  S.  of  Fouri- 
caria.  Immediately  on  his  approach,  the  drums  and  other 
warlike  instruments  were  in  motion,  and  soon  about  12,000 
people  were  assembled  in  a  large  square,  in  the  centre  of  the 
savannah  on  which  an  immense  army  was  encamped,  and 
Lt.  L.  communicated  the  object  of  his  visit,  which  was  to 
explain  the  footing  on  which  the  Colony  of  Sierra  Leone 
wished  to  stand  with  the  neighbouring  nations. 

'King  Yaradee,  who  is  one  of  the  most  warlike  of  the  Af 
rican  monarchs,  he  found  surrounded  by  his  brave  chiefs, 
under  an  ample  tent,  seated  upon  the  skin  of  a  lion.  The 
king  kindly  invited  Lt.  L.  to  take  a  seat  by  his  side.  The 
following  song,  in  their  own  language,  was  then  sung  by  a 
minstrel : — 

SONG. 

"  A  stranger  has  come  to  Yaradee's  camp 

Whose  bosom  is  soft  and  is  fair  ; 
He  sits  by  the  valiant  Yaradee's  side, 

And  none  but  the  valiant  sit  there. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  53 

S^olima  Song. 

Like  the  furious  lion  Yaradee  comes 

And  hurls  the  terrors  of  war  ; 
His  enemies  see  him,  and,  panic-struck,  flee 

To  the  woods  and  the  deserts  afar. 

By  the  side  of  this  hero,  so  valiant  and  brave, 
Sits  the  stranger  whose  skin  is  so  fair; 

He  lives  on  the  sea,  where  he  wanders  at  will, 
And  he  knows  neither  sorrow  nor  care. 

Then  look  at  the  stranger  before  he  departs  ; 

Brave  Yaradee,  touch  his  soft  hair  ; 
The  last  note  of  my  harp  swells  to  Yaradee's  praise, 

While  I  gaze  on  the  stranger  so  fair." 

'  The  Solimas  are  great  singers.  The  great  deeds  of  the 
Solima  chiefs,  as  well  as  the  history  of  their  wars,  are  hand 
ed  down  to  posterity  by  means  of  Jelle  or  singing-men,  in 
songs  composed  much  after  the  manner  of  Ossian.' 

'  Those  lines  are  very  sweet,'  said  Henry,  '  and  the  scene 
must  have  been  very  imposing.' 

'  The  Africans  are  sweet  singers,'  said  Caroline ;  *  but 
I  acknowledge  the  time  has  been  when  I  thought  them  capa 
ble  of  sound  only — not  of  sentiment,' 


54  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Scripture  testimony  to  African  learning. 


CONVERSATION    VI. 


"  From  Guinea's  coast  pursue  the  lessening  sail, 

And  catch  the  sounds  that  sadden  every  gale. 

Tell,  if  thou  canst,  the  sum  of  sorrows  there  ; 

Mark  the  fix'd  gaze,  the  wild  and  phrenzied  glare, 

The  racks  of  thought,  and  freezings  of  despair! 

But  pause  not  there — beyond  the  western  wave, 

Go,  see  the  captive  bartered  as  a  slave  ! 

Crush'd  till  his  high,  heroic  spirit  bleeds, 

And  from  his  nerveless  frame  indignantly  recedes." — Rogers. 


'  I  HAVE  been  thinking,  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  '  that  it  is  a  fact 
somewhat  remarkable,  that  perhaps  the  first  intimation 
which  we  find  in  ancient  history  of  great  learning  among 
any  people,  is  that  which  in  Mosaic  history  points  us  to 
Africa.  Moses,  you  know,  it  is  said,  was  skilled  in  all  the 
wisdom  of  the  Egyptians  !' 

4  You  have,  indeed,  referred  to  a  striking  and  decisive  evi 
dence  of  the  greatness  of  African  attainments  at  a  very  early 
period.  We  have  conclusive  and  irresistible  proof  of  their 
quondam  greatness  also  in  their  works  of  art,  many  of  which, 
such  as  pyramids,  obelisks,  and  mausolea,  still  stand,  as  if  in 
mockery  of  the  very  credulity  of  man,  a  memorial  of  their 
spirit  and  skill. 

'Many  will  say,  however,  that  the  ancient  Egyptians 
were  a  very  "  different  race  of  beings  from  those  tribes  which 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  55 

African  manuscripts. — Tribes  discovered. 

have  supplied  the  world  with  slaves."  Admit  that  they 
were  in  some  respects  different,  the  reference  to  them  is  suf 
ficient  to  invalidate  the  sweeping  declarations  of  many  in  re 
gard  to  Africans  universally ;  there  are,  however,  proofs  of 
former  greatness  and  of  present  susceptibility  of  great  im 
provement,  and  of  high  advances  in  genius  and  learning 
among  other  portions  of  the  African  race. 

'  Mr.  Thompson,  late  Governor  of  Sierra  Leone,  in  a  let 
ter  to  a  distinguished  gentleman  of  Massachusetts,  published 
some  time  since,  says,  that  he  brought  from  Africa  manu 
scripts  sufficient  to  convince  him  that  the  interior  of  that 
great  continent  is  even  now  in  a  vastly  higher  state  of  civili 
zation  and  improvement  than  the  residents  on  the  coast  have 
any  idea  of.' 

'  Has  it  not  been  said  that  a  tribe  has  lately  been  disco 
vered  in  the  interior  of  Africa  who  are  Christians  ?' 


'  Yes  :  missionaries  of  the  London  Church  Missionary 
Society  for  Egypt  and  Abyssinia,  found,  a  few  years  since, 
a  tribe  never  before  visited  by  Europeans,  who  appeared  to 
have  much  in  their  faith  that  is  scriptural,  and  whose  prac 
tice  was  generally  commendable ;  but,  if  I  recollect,  they 
are  represented  as  having  no  knowledge  of  the  Saviour. 
They  believe  in  ONE  GOD  ;  and  they  teach  that  every  per 
son  receives  reward  or  punishment  according  to  his  life,  in  a 
future  state.  They  have  also  a  notion  of  the  existence  of  an 
evil  spirit,  or  devil.  The  history  of  the  deluge  is  preserved 
in  their  traditions.  Good  angels  they  consider  the  guardians 
of  good  people.  They  are  strict  in  the  moral  instruction  of 
their  children.  But  after  all,  they  can  hardly  be  entitled  to 
be  called  Christians,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  form  an 
opinion.' 


56  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Large  cities. — Black  has  sometimes  been  regarded  as  the  colour  of  beauty. 

'  You  have  spoken,  Sir,  of  some  large  cities  visited  by 
Lt.  Laing,  or  other  travellers :  do  you  suppose  that  such  set 
tlements  are  common  in  the  interior  ?' 

'  All  who  have  travelled  at  all  in  central  Africa,  have  found 
there  very  populous  and  highly  cultivated  countries,  in 
which  were  large  cities,  of  30,000  some,  and  50,000  some, 
or  more  inhabitants.  To  these  marts  resort  all  the  people  in 
the  neighbourhood,  as  in  our  own  country  to  our  larger  cities 
and  towns,  and  caravans  as  well  as  single  merchants  from 
the  most  remote  regions.' 

'  I  suppose,  Pa,  that  the  people  in  Africa  have  no  idea  that 
their  colour  is  regarded  by  other  nations  as  a  blemish,  and 
that  they  are  therefore  perfectly  satisfied  with  themselves  in 
that  respect  ?' 

'  Indeed,  they  are,  well  satisfied.  Whiteness,  when  first 
beheld,  is  shocking  to  them  ;  they  attribute  it  to  disease.  A 
charitable  old  Negro  woman  who  afforded  Park  a  meal  and  a 
lodging,  on  the  banks  of  the  Niger,  could  not  refrain,  even 
in  the  midst  of  her  kindness,  from  exclaiming,  "  God  pre 
serve  us  from  the  DEVIL  !"  as  she  looked  upon  him.  And 
it  is  said  to  have  been  a  common  subject  of  regret  among  the 
girls  at  Bornon,  that  Denham  and  Clapperton  were  ivhitc.' 

1  Oh!  Pa,  you  are  jesting,  I  know.' 

'  Indeed,  Caroline,  I  am  not.* 

'  It  may  be  that  it  has  been  said  as  you  represent,  but' — 

Henry  here  remarked  that  '  Heroditus  has  said  that  "  the 
^Ethiopians  excel  all  other  nations  in  personal  beauty:' 
If  Mack  be  a  mark  of  beauty,  Caroline,'  he  mischievously 
remarked,  '  you  would  stand  but  little  chance  of  making 


OF   THE 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  57 


Domestic  slavery  in  Africa. 


conquest  by  your  colour,  of  an  ebony  ^Ethiop,  or  of  making 
the  best  market  of  yourself  in  Africa.' 

i  Indeed,  Henry,  I  think  I  should  not  repine.' 

'But  to  be  serious,'  continued  Mr.  L.,  'when  the 
blacks  have  taken  precedence  of  the  whites  in  civilization, 
science,  and  political  power,  no  prejudice  has  appeared  to 
exist  against  the  colour.  The  black  Prince,  Memnon,  who 
served  among  the  Trojan  auxiliaries  at  the  siege  of  Troy, 
is  constantly  spoken  of,  by  the  Greek  and  Latin  authors,  as 
a  person  of  extraordinary  beauty.  He  is  qualified  as  the 
Son  of  Aurora,  or  the  Morning.  The  prejudice  against  the 
colour  of  the  blacks,  many  contend  (and  I  shall  not  under 
take  to  controvert  their  argument,  although  I  freely  acknow 
ledge  my  own  views  would  lead  me  to  treat  with  great  dis 
approbation  any  plea  for  amalgamation,)  has  grown  out  of 
the  relative  condition  of  the  two  races.' 

Caroline  here  inquired,  'Have  not  the  Africans  many 
slaves  among  themselves,  in  Africa?  If  I  recollect,  Mr. 
Clapperton  says  the  domestic  slaves  are  numerous.' 

'  There  is  a  great  deal  of  domestic  slavery  in  different 
parts  of  Africa ;  but  it  has  been  asserted  that,  for  the  most 
part,  slavery,  except  as  slaves  are  taken  to  be  sold  to  the 
slave-merchants  on  the  coast,  is  a  different  thing  in  Africa 
from  what  it  is  among  us.  I  know  not  that  it  is  said  that 
the  slaves  are  treated  better  than  with  us  ;  but  it  is  thought 
that  they  are  there  viewed  more  as  members  of  the  family 
to  which  they  are  attached  than  as  slaves.  Still,  I  am  in 
clined  to  think  that  this  is  a  gloss  which  a  comparison  would 
not  justify.' 

Henry  suggested,  at  this  point,  that  slavery  is  bad  enough, 
in  any  country,  and  under  any  circumstances.  <  Nothing,' 


58  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


How  slaves  are  taken. 


said  he,  '  I  am  sure,  can  make  amends  for  the  loss  of  liberty 
— nothing,  I  mean,  that  man  can  offer.' 

Mr.  L.  had  no  doubt  there  has  been  many  an  instance  of 
that  which  Montgomery  has  so  finely  expressed, 

"  The  broken  heart  which  kindness  never  heals — 
The  home-sick  passion  which  the  Negro  feels 
When  toiling,  fainting,  in  a  land  of  canes, 
His  spirit  wanders  to  his  native  plains, 
And  'neath  the  shade  of  his  paternal  trees, 
His  litile  lonely  dwelling  there  he  sees, 
The  home  of  comfort." 

4 1  have  seen  it  stated,'  said  Henry,  *  that  in  some  parts  of 
Africa  they  hunt  for  slaves  for  transportation  just  as  they 
would  hunt  for  wild  beasts.' 

'It  is  said  that  in  Bornon,  for  instance,'  replied  Mr.  L., 
*  where  the  slave  trade  is  carried  on  to  an  immense  extent 
and  is  the  principal  traffic,  the  mode  in  which  slaves  are  pro 
cured  is  very  summary  :  A  caravan  of  Moorish  merchants 
arrives,  and  offers  goods  for  slaves.  If  there  are  no  slaves  on 
hand  they  must  be  procured.  The  Sultan  immediately  col 
lects  his  forces,  marches  into  the  country  of  some  harmless 
tribe,  burns  their  villages,  destroys  their  fields  and  flocks, 
massacres  the  infirm  and  old,  and  returns  with  as  many  able 
bodied  prisoners  as  he  can  seize.  Sometimes  3,000  have 
been  obtained  in  a  single  "  ghrazie,"  as  these  expeditions 
are  called.  The  way  in  which  slaves  are  obtained  is  some 
what  different  in  different  parts  of  Africa,  and  yet  is  very 
similar  in  all.' 

The  family  all  exclaimed,  « How  horrible  !' 

Mr.  L.  resumed,  *  The  horrors  of  the  slave-trade  in  Af- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  59 

Horrors  of  the  slave  trade. 

rica  are  great.  Distressing,  however,  as  is  the  situation  of 
the  captive  when  first 

"  before  his  eyes 
The  terrors  of  captivity  arise," 

his  sufferings  are  greater  in  what  is  called  the  "  middle  pas 
sage" — that  is,  during  the  voyage,  if  he  be  shipped  to  a  dis 
tant  land.  And  if  they  be  carried,  to  supply  the  northern 
market,  across  the;  great  Desert,  their  sufferings  are  repre 
sented  as  even  greater. 

4  Driven  by  Arab  merchants  to  the  North  of  Africa, 
through  the  deep  and  burning  sands  of  Sahara,  scantily  sup 
plied  with  water,  they  sink  in  great  numbers  under  their  suf 
ferings.  Denham  and  his  companions  saw,  in  their  journey- 
ings,  melancholy  proofs  of  the  horrors  attending  this  "  mid 
dle  passage"  over  land.  They  at  one  time  halted  near  a 
well  around  which  were  lying  more  than  one  hundred  hu 
man  skeletons,  some  of  them  with  the  skin  still  remaining 
upon  the  bones.  "  They  were  only  blacks"  said  the  Arabs 
when  they  observed  the  horror  of  the  travellers,  and  then 
began  to  knock  about  the  limbs  and  skulls  with  the  butt-ends 
of  their  guns,  Denham  says  they  counted  in  another  place 
one  hundred  and  seven  skeletons.  In  other  instances,  they 
passed  sixty  or  eighty  skeletons  a  day  scattered  along  over 
that  dreary  waste  !  .  About  the  walls  of  El-Hamar,  they  saw 
many,  and  among  the  rest,  the  skeletons  of  two  young  fe 
males,  faithful  friends  it  would  seem  even  to  death,  for  these 
skeletons  lay  with  their  fieshless  arms  still  clasped  around 
each  other.' 

Caroline  felt  a  little  faint,  but  after  a  few  moments'  inter 
ruption,  begged  her  father  to  proceed.  She  had  no  doubt  it 
was  owing  to  the  heat  of  the  room.  Mr.  L.,  with  some  he 
sitancy,  continued : 


60  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Sufferings  of  the  captured  in  the  middle  passage. 

'  While,'  says  Denham,  '  while  I  was  dozing  on  my  horse, 
about  noon,  overcome  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  I  was  sudden 
ly  awakened  by  a  crashing  under  my  feet,  and  found  that  my 
steed  had  stepped  on  the  perfect  skeletons  of  two  human 
beings,  cracking  their  brittle  bones  under  his  feet,  and  by  one 
trip  of  his  foot  separating  a  skull  from  the  trunk,  it  rolled  on 
like  a  ball  before  him.' 

'  O  horrid  barbarity  !  Poor  Africa!'  exclaimed  Caroline  ; 
1  what  has  she  suffered  !  I  do  not  wonder  that  that  wretched 
continent  has  been  represented  as  a  widow,  sitting  beneath 
her  own  palm-trees,  clothed  in  sackcloth,  and  weeping  for 
her  children  and  refusing  to  be  comforted  !' 

*  And  are  they  exposed  to  much  suffering  on  the  western 
coast,  when  taken  to  be  sent  on  ship-board,  to  be  conveyed 
to  other  lands  ?'  asked  Henry. 

'  Yes,  their  sufferings  then  are  great,  and  frequently  insup 
portable.  At  the  lowest  estimate,  it  is  said  that  an  average 
of  one  hundred  thousand  of  the  African  race  have  been  seized 
every  year,  and  borne  across  the  Atlantic  to  supply  the  West 
Indies  and  the  Brazilian  market  alone.  The  wars  attending 
the  capture  of  such  a  multitude,  make  Africa,  of  course,  a 
field  of  blood,  and  a  scene  of  great  affliction.' 

'And  then,'  said  Caroline,  '  the  separation  of  relatives  and 
friends,  occasioned  by  the  forced  removal  of  the  captured,  I 
have  no  doubt  breaks  a  thousand  hearts  ;  O  it  is  shocking 
to  humanity  !  And  how  painful  is  it  to  think  that  much  of 
the  distress  which  Africa  has  endured,  has"  been  occasioned, 
perhaps,  by  our  own  countrymen ;  or,  at  least,  has  been 
caused  by  inducements  which  in  our  own  country,  this  boast 
ed  land  of  liberty,  have  been  held  out  to  unprincipled  men 
to  procure  slaves  and  bring  them  hither !  It  appears  to  me, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  6l 

Horrors  of  slavery. — Slavery  a  reproach  to  our  country. 

Pa,  that  slavery  in  a  country  like  ours,  more  than  any  other, 
is  dark  disgrace.' 

'  Yes,  my  daughter,  it  is  indeed  a  deep  stain  upon  our 
honour — a  dark  blot  upon  our  country's  glory.  It  is  such  a 
stain  as  no  Christian  nation  should  tolerate.  Much  less 
should  the  stain  rest  upon  a  people  distinguished  above  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  for  their  civil  and  religious  blessings, 
and  whose  very  DECLARATION  is  published  to  the  world,  bold 
ly  and  solemnly  asserting  that  ICT^ALL  MEN  ARE  CREATED 

EQUAL  J  ENDOWED  BY  THEIR  CREATOR  WITH  THE  UNALIENA- 
BLE  RIGHTS  OF  LIFE,  LIBERTY,  AND  THE  PURSUIT  OF  HAPPI 
NESS.' 

1 1  recollect,  sir,'  said  Henry,  '  some  lines  which  forcibly 
illustrate  the  sentiment  you  express  : 

"  ALL  ARE  BORN  FREE  ;   AND  ALL  WITH  EQUAL  RIGHTS. 

So  speaks  the  Charter  of  a  Nation,  proud 
Of  her  unequalled  liberties  and  laws ; 
While,  in  that  nation,  shameful  to  relate, 
One  man  in  Jive  is  born  and  dies  A  SLAVE." 

«  Can  you  repeat  further?  If  I  recollect,  what  follows  is 
equally  applicable,  elegant,  and  impressive.' 

'  I  can  imperfectly.  I  may  perhaps  do  injustice  to  the  au 
thor  by  some  omissions  or  alterations,  as  I  cannot  promise 
that  I  shall  give  the  precise  original  in  totidem  verbis : 

"  Is  this  my  country  ?  this  that  happy  land, 

The  wonder  and  the  envy  of  the  world  ? 

O  for  a  mantle  to  conceal  her  shame  ! 

But  why  ?  when  patriotism  cannot  hide 

The  ruin  which  her  guilt  will  surely  bring 

If  unrepented  ?  for  unless  the  God 

Who  poured  his  plagues  on  Egypt  till  she  Jet 

The  oppress'd  go  free,  and  often  pours  his  wrath 


62  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

An  evil  full  of  danger. 

In  earthquakes  and  tornadoes  on  the  isles 
Of  Western  India,  laying  waste  their  fields, 
Dashing  their  mercenary  ships  ashore, 
Tossing  the  isles  themselves  like  floating  wrecks, 
And  burying  towns  alive  in  one  wide  grave, 
No  sooner  ope'd  but  closed,  let  judgment  pass 
For  once  untasled  till  the  general  doom, 
Can  it  go  well  with  us  while  we  retain 
This  cursed  thing  ? 

"  Will  not  some  daring  spirit,  born  to  thoughts 
Above  his  beast-like  state,  find  out  the  truth 
That  Africans  are  "  men,"  and  catching  fire 
From  freedom's  altar  raised  before  his  eyes 
With  incense  burning  sweet,  in  others  light 
A  kindred  flame  in  secret,  till  a  train 
Kindled  at  once,  deal  death  on  every  side? 

"  Cease,  then,  COLUMBIA — for  thy  safety,  cease, 
And  for  thine  honour  to  proclaim  the  praise 
Of  thy  fair  shores  of  liberty  and  joy, 
While  thrice  seven  hundred  thousand  wretched  slaves 
Are  held  in  thine  own  land .'" 

'Very  good,  my  son,  and  very  appropriate.  We  are  in 
deed  a  peculiar  people.  As  a  nation  \\e  have  hitherto 
enjoyed  unexampled  prosperity.  Our  success,  I  doubt  not, 
is  to  be  attributed,  under  God,  in  a  great  measure  to  the  fact 
that  our  institutions,  since  the  Revolution,  are  based  on  the 
principle  of  moral  rectitude  and  the  equal  rights  of  man. 
But  our  prosperity  will  wane — our  happiness  will  be  of  short 
duration,  unless  our  practice  be  a  consistent  comment  on  our 
national  declarations  and  professions.  If  we  abide  by  our 
own  professed  declarations  and  principles,  we  may  prosper 
still.  But  that  moral  debt  which  our  ancestors  contracted 
when  being  presented  with  the  forbidden  fruit,  they  took  and 
ate,  must  be  paid  by  us,  their  heirs,  (I  mean  the  debt  we 
owe  to  Africa,)  or  I  am  satisfied  that  our  country  will  yet 
feel  the  severe  scourge  of  heaven  !  Slavery  must  cease,  and 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  63 

The  evil  must  be  removed. 

we  must  do  what  we  can  to  redress  the  wrongs  we  have 
done,  or  our  country  is  ruined.' 

1  We  may  have  able  statesmen,  a  faithful  administration, 
the  physical  strength  and  resources  of  our  country  may  be 
our  boast,  and  we  may  pride  ourselves  on  the  valour  of  our 
armies  and  the  gallantry  of  our  navy ;  but  without  a  sacred 
regard  to  the  immutable  principles  of  justice,  all  will  be  of 
no  avail.  We  have  before  us  the  experience  of  ages — the 
philosophy  of  many  an  experiment  and  of  many  a  failure, 
in  the  history  of  nations ;  and  we  must  profit  by  the  instruc 
tions  of  the  past,  if  we  would  be  successful  and  happy  for 
any  length  of  time :  otherwise  the  period  will  arrive,  when, 
ere  we  are  aware,  this  giant  republic  will  be  broken,  and 
scattered,  and  peeled. 

4  Happy  should  I  be  to  see  in  my  beloved  country  a  more 
general  regard  to  that  sacred  maxim,  "  RIGHTEOUSNESS  EX- 


*  I  hope  and  trust,  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  «  that  the  kind  Pro 
vidence  that  has  always  watched  over  us  for  good,  will  tum 
the  minds  of  this  people  to  a  right  course,  and  thus  avert 
from  us  so  dreadful  a  calamity.' 

4 1  hope  so.' 

*  You  do  not  think,  Pa,  that  danger  is  near  ?' 

4 1  know  not  at  what  moment  the  great  Avenger  may  per 
mit  the  volcano  to  burst ;  but  this  we  all  know,  that  already 
we  have  heard  its  muttering,  nor  has  it  been  without  some 
transient  irruptions.  The  Southampton  tragedy  cannot  soon 
be  forgotten !  The  elements  of  destruction  are  indeed  among 
us.  Two  millions  of  slaves,  and  three  hundred  thousand 
free  blacks,  with  their  rapid  increase,  in  connexion  with  the 


64  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Something  must  be  done. 

diversity  of  feeling  and  sentiment  which  exists  among  our 
selves,  and  the  lack  of  sympathy  for  our  situation  among 
other  nations,  are,  altogether,  a  tremendous  evil. 

'  We  live,  too,  in  a  peculiar  age.  Great  changes  are  tak 
ing  place  in  the  earth.  The  ball  of  revolution  is  moved. 

The  age  finds  all  within  the  vortex  drawn, 
The  strength  of  current  far  too  great  to  stem 
By  feigned  indifference. 

Something  must  be  done;  and  the  considerate   feel    and 

acknowledge  the  fact.     What  can  be  done,  or  how  an  end 

"  most  devoutly  to  be  wished,"  shall  be  effected,  is  an  im 
portant,  serious,  solemn  question.' 

*  I  should  think,  Pa,  that  there  can  be  but  one  opinion  as 
to  the  expediency  of  attending  to  the  subject,  and  doing  some 
thing  effectual  to  remove  the  evil  entirely  from  among  us  ?' 

« And  I,'  said  Henry,  i  should  think  there  could  be,  amongst 
the  discerning,  but  one  opinion  in  respect  to  the  advantages 
of  colonization.' 

'  In  respect  to  the  means  most  proper  to  be  employed,' 
said  Mr.  L.,  '  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  ;  but  reflecting 
men  generally,  as  I  said  before,  are  beginning  to  feel,  more 
than  ever,  that  something  must  be  done.  No  one  who  looks 
at  the  subject  with  a  candid  eye  can,  it  seems  to  me,  doubt 
either  the  expediency  of  encouraging  the  colonization  of  our 
coloured  population  in  Africa,  or  the  desirableness  of  the 
abolishment  of  slavery  in  our  land.  Connected  with  this 
subject  are  great  questions,  involving  great  considerations, 
requiring  the  wisdom  which  is  from  above,  and  calling  for  a 
spirit  of  prayer,  meekness,  and  great  forbearance.  Already 
are  there  thrown  around  the  subject  difficulties  and  embar 
rassments  which  ought  to  have  been  avoided,  or  rather  I 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  65 

A  right  spirit  needed. 

would  say,  ought  never  to  have  been  created.  A  wrong  spi 
rit  and  unwise  measures  will  only  increase  the  evil.  So  se 
rious  and  alarming  is  it  now,  that  very  many  are  actually 
afraid  to  look  the  evil  full  in  the  face.  What  shall  be  done? 
is  a  question  which  they  dare  not  meet,  although  all  the 
while  they  fear  that  the  subject  will  force  itself  upon  us  in  a 
way  that  shall  be  most  painful.  I  confess,  for  my  own  part, 
that  I  have  long  apprehended  that  the  issue  will  at  length 
come  in  a  shape  that  shall  demand  tears  of  anguish  for  rivers 
of  blood.' 


66  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Self-preservation,  a  law  of  nature. — A  change  is  taking  place. 


CONVERSATION   VII. 


"  We  are  required  to  devise  some  means  whereby  the  political  evil  which 
we  have  inherited  may  be  corrected,  and  a  foul,  unseemly  stain  washed 
from  our  national  escutcheon.  Duty  to  the  coloured  population  of  our 
country  calls  loudly  for  it — duty  to  ourselves  demands  it." — Gov.  Vroom. 


4 1  HAVE  been  thinking  much,  through  the  day,'  said  Caro 
line,  'of  our  last  conversation.  Self-preservation,  it  is 
sometimes  asserted  as  a  maxim  incontrovertible,  is  the  first 
law  of  nature.  It  is  a  law,  however,  which  appears  to  me 
to  be  very  little  regarded,  or  there  could  not,  I  think,  be  such 
apathy  in  respect  to  the  dangers  that  surround  us.  Self- 
interest,  I  should  think  would  furnish  to  the  Southern  peo 
ple  most  pressing  motives  to  immediate  and  vigourous  action 
in  freeing  our  land  from  the  very  last  remnant  of  slavery.' 

'  The  public  are  awakening  to  the  importance  of  the  sub 
ject,'  replied  Mr.  L.,  'and  begin  to  feel  more  than  formerly 
the  urgency  of  the  case.  Every  passing  month,  the  cause 
of  Africa's  unhappy  children,  is  finding  new  and  ardent 
friends  who  feel  that  the  duty  which  \ve  owe  ourselves,  our 
country,  and  the  world,  can  only  be  fulfilled  by  listening  to 
the  cries  of  the  oppressed,  and  loosing  every  band  that  chafes 
the  limbs  or  the  souls  of  our  coloured  brethren.  A  mighty 
change  has  taken  place,  and  is  still  increasing.  In  this  sub- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  67 

Our  whole  country  has  one  common  interest. 

ject  the  non-slave-holding  States  as  well  as  the  South  have 
a  deep  interest.' 

*  In  case  of  insurrection  among  the  slaves  of  the  South,  I 
do  not  see  that  we  should  be  in  any  danger,  Pa  ?' 

1  We  might  not  be  in  any  personal  danger,  my  son  ;  but 
is  not  the  South  as  well  as  the  North  our  country  ? — are  not 
the  noble-hearted  Southrons  our  brethren  ? — and  are  they 
not  every  way  worthy  of  our  warm  affection  and  respect? 
They  are  indeed  part  of  ourselves.  If  personal  danger  were 
the  only  cause  of  alarm,  we  surely  could  not  be  indifferent 
spectators  of  a  scene  of  revolt  and  its  dreadful  consequences. 
Our  interests  are  interwoven,  and  bound  together  by  many 
ties.  Our  intimate  friends  and  connexions  are  scattered  over 
the  Union,  and  ourselves,  or  our  children  may  be  on  the 
very  centre  of  the  crater,  when  the  volcano  shall  burst. 

4  There  are  other  considerations,  however,  which  should 
not  be  viewed  with  indifference.  Such  is  the  genius  of  our 
government,  that  if  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it.  Frequent  collisions  of  feeling,  clashing  of 
sentiment,  and  contentions  for  opposite  interests  are  pain 
fully  adapted  to  sunder  the  strongest  bonds  of  brotherhood. 
The  existence  of  slavery  in  our  land,  has  more  than  once 
been  the  fertile  theme  of  political  strife  in  our  national  coun 
cils,  the  rallying  point  of  contending  parties.  It  has  already 
engendered  much  bad  feeling,  and  what  will  be  its  final 
result  is  the  subject  of  much  anxious  speculation  and 
the  cause  of  unpleasant  forebodings.  To  be  united,  and 
prosperous,  and  happy,  for  any  length  of  time,  we  must  be 
one  in  sentiment,  one  in  action,  one  in  character.' 

'  The  tariff  question  did  much  to  provoke  unpleasant 
feeling  between  the  different  parts  of  the  Union ^  did  it  not,. 
Pa?' 


68  CONVERSATIONS  OX  SLAVERY. 

Slavery  is  the  bane  of  our  peace  and  unity. 

'  Tariff  and  anti-tariff  views  and  the  like,  have  had  less  to 
do  in  producing  the  commotions  which  have  convulsed  our 
country  at  different  times,  than  many  are  aware  of.  It  was 
an  evil  hour  when  slavery  was  introduced  to  this  otherwise 
favoured  land.  Its  unhappy  influence  has  been  gradually 
developed  until  its  curse  has  become  tremendous.  Admit 
that  we  feel  its  direct  influence  but  little  in  this  part  of  our 
country ;  still,  it  has  an  influence  indirect,  which  more  than 
all  things  else  contributes  to  mar  and  jeopard  the  peace,  the 
welfare,  and  the  permanency  of  the  Union. 

c  The  fact  is,  SLAVERY  is  the  bane  and  the  ruin  of  one  por 
tion  of  our  land,  and  the  advantage  of  FREE  LABOUR  and  in 
dustry  has  exalted  the  other  portion.  The  natural  conse 
quence  is,  a  morbid  sensibility  and  ever  wakeful  jealousy  on 
the  part  of  the  depressed ;  and  an  increasing  desire  for 
greater  gain  and  aggrandisement,  on  the  part  of  the  other. 
Yes,  it  is  slavery  that  sinks  the  South  !  Says  one  of  her 
own  distinguished  citizens,  "  See  the  wide-spreading  ruin 
which  the  avarice  of  our  ancestral  government  has  produ 
ced,  as  witnessed  in  a  sparse  population  of  freemen,  desert 
ed  habitations,  fields  without  culture ;  and,  strange  to 
tell,  even  the  wolf,  driven  back  long  since  by  the  ap 
proach  of  man,  now  returns,  after  the  lapse  of  an  hundred 
years,  to  howl  over  the  desolations  of  slavery."  Their  lands 
worn  out,  in  a  great  measure,  under  the  ungrateful  cultiva 
tion  of  slaves ;  the  population  of  freemen  declining,  or 
wending  their  westward  way  ;  and  those  interests  neglected 
which  would  have  been  cultivated  by  a  free,  white,  and 
working  population,  the  South  feels  but  too  sensibly  every 
effort  which  other  sections  make  to  sustain  themselves,  as  if 
oppressive  of  her — whilst,  all  the  time,  the  evil,  the  root  of 
the  evil,  is  SLAVERY  !  The  South  has  injured,  and  is  yet 
crushing  herself,  by  cherishing  an  evil  which  will  soon  bus 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  69 

Slavery  depresses  the  South. — Is  unprofitable. 

found  to  be  more  than  can  be  borne.  She  cannot  rise  whilst 
the  evil  remains.  She  feels  it ;  and  the  other  States  see  it 
to  be  so.  It  is  a  subject,  however,  that  can  hardly  be  dis 
cussed  at  all  in  its  various  bearings  without  eliciting  sectional 
jealousy,  or  party  severity,  and  enkindling  mutual  animosi 
ties,  although  it  is  an  evil  that  convulses  and  stains  the  en 
tire  length  and  breadth  of  our  land  !' 

'  You  consider  slave  labour  then  as  unprofitable,  Pa  ?' 

'  There  are  individual  exceptions,  undoubtedly,  in  which 
the  slave  dedicates  himself  to  his  master  with  the  most  zeal 
ous  and  generous  devotion  ;  but  generally  that  labour  we 
should  suppose  most  profitable,  in  which  the  labourer  knows 
that  he  will  derive  the  profits  of  his  industry ;  his  em 
ployment  depending  on  his  diligence,  and  his  reward  upon  his 
assiduity.  There  is  every  motive  to  excite  to  exertion,  and 
to  animate  to  perseverance.  Therefore,  where  the  choice 
exists  to  employ,  at  an  equal  hire,  free,  or  slave  labour,  the 
former  will  be  decidedly  preferred,  because  it  is  regarded  as 
more  capable,  more  diligent,  more  faithful,  more  worthy  of 
confidence.  Where  capital  is  unable  to  command  the  free 
labour  that  is  required,  as  has  been  sometimes  the  case  in 
the  first  settlement  of  some  parts  of  our  country,  it  may 
there  purchase  that  of  slaves.' 

4  Then  slavery  was  introduced  into  this  country  on  ac 
count  of  the  difficulty  of  procuring  free  labour  in  the  first 
settlement  of  the  country,  was  it,  Sir  ?' 

'  Yes  ;  the  first  guilt  of  the  introduction  of  slavery  into 
this  country  is  chargeable  upon  England  ;  and  the  circum 
stances  are  such  as  show  conclusively  that  where  free  labour 
can  be  had,  avarice,  which  knows  the  way  to  wealth  even 
better  than  philosophy  itself,  prefers  free  labour.  When 


70  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Introduced  by  Kngland. — Policy  of  England. 

England  introduced  slavery  into  her  American  Colonies  and 
Islands,  she  had  as  much  free  labour  at  home  as  the  land 
holders  wanted  to  employ ;  and  it  has  been  on  this  account, 
and  this  only,  that  the  poet  was  enabled  to  say, 

"  Slaves  cannot  breathe  in  England  ;  if  their  lungs 
Receive  our  air,  that  moment  they  are  free ; 
They  touch  our  country,  and  their  schackles  fall.'* 

The  fact  is,  the  respiration  could  go  on  well  enough  in 
those  parts  of  her  dominions  where  free  labour  was  not  to 
be  obtained.  In  America  was  a  widely-extended  territory, 
with  a  soil  and  climate  adapted  to  the  raising  of  the  most 
profitable  articles  of  commerce.  In  order  to  render  the  co 
lonies  an  immediate  and  productive  source  of  revenue,  which 
\vas  the  settled  policy  of  England,  and  on  which  she  placed 
great  reliance,  (monopolizing  at  the  same  time  all  her  colo 
nial  commerce,  and  taking  care  to  increase  that  commerce  as 
much  as  possible  by  increasing  the  productions  of  the  soil,) 
an  immediate  supply  of  labour  was  necessary.  As  an  ex 
pedient  to  provide  for  her  colonial  wants,  she  commenced 
filling  her  colonies  with  African  slaves  1  She  would  not 
tolerate  slavery  at  home,  and  yet  would  provide  for,  and 
locate  the  evil  among  her  distant  children,  who,  consulting 
their  immediate  profit,  and  regardless  of  future  consequences, 
at  length  fell  in  with  the  slave-policy  of  the  mother 
country. 

'  The  same  causes  which  induced  England  to  prohibit 
slavery  at  home,  and  yet  pour  slaves  into  her  colonies,  it 
may  be  remarked,  led  Spain  and  France  and  all  the  Euro 
pean  powers,  who  were  supplied  with  free  labour  at  home, 
but  had  infant  colonies  in  the  West  Indies  or  America,,  to  do 
the  same.  Instead  of  waiting  for  the  New  World  to  popu 
late  with  labourers  by  the  emigration  of  free  men,  aud  the 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  71 

Slavery  retires  South — cannot  be  supported  on  barres  soil. 

natural  increase  of  population,  slavery  was  resorted  to  as  a 
more  speedy  method  of  introducing  labour.  It  was  intro* 
duced  to  the  colonies  only,  because  free  labour  was  not  to 
be  had  there  ;  and  not  into  the  mother  country  because  slave 
labour  cannot  compete  with  the  free  where  the  employer 
has  his  choice.' 

'  How  inappropriate  then  the  praise  which  Cowper  be 
stows  on  his  native  country,  in  the  lines  that  follow  the 
quotation  which  you  just  now  made  : 

"  That's  noble,  and  bespeaks  a  nation  proud 
And  jealous  of  the  blessing." 

'  If  slave  labour  be  so  unprofitable,  and  if  the  naturally 
rich  lands  of  the  South  become,  in  process  of  time,  barren 
under  its  culture,  it  is  not  strange  that  slavery  should  have 
retired  first  from  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States.' 

'  Slavery  is  a  tax  that  poor  soils  and  cold  climates  like 
ours  cannot  endure.  The  cost  of  cultivating  an  unproduc 
tive  soil  with  slaves,  is  more  than  the  productions  of  the 
soil  would  bring  in  return.' 

'  Yet  cold  countries  and  comparatively  unproductive  soils 
are  cultivated  by  free  labour  to  advantage  ?' 

*  Yes ;  Switzerland,  Scotland,  and  New  England,  are 
striking  examples  of  it.  The  freedom  and  character  of  the 
labouring  population,  make  these  countries  populous  and 
wealthy,  although  nature  has  by  no  means  been  liberal  in 
her  gifts  to  either  of  them.  Introduce  there  a  system  of 
slave  labour,  and  pauperism  and  famine  would  be  the  inevit 
able  consequence.  It  has  been  well  remarked  that  "  free 
and  slave  labour  move  in  opposite  directions  from  the  same 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Occasions  much  anxiety. 


point  of  departure  ;  and,  while  one  is  regularly  diminishing 
the  capacity  of  the  earth  for  production,  the  other  is  con 
stantly  nourishing  and  invigorating  its  powers." 

'  It  is  an  opinion  of  no  recent  date,  but  ancient  as  slavery 
itself,  that  the  labour  of  bondmen  is  gradually  destructive 
of  the  soil  to  which  it  is  applied.' 

'  I  can  appreciate  now',  said  Caroline,  '  a  remark  of  Miss 
Harriet  Martineau  —  she  says,  "  The  slave  system  inflicts  an 
incalculable  amount  of  human  suffering  for  the  sake  of  a 
wholesale  waste  of  labour  and  capital." 

'  I  have  been  told  that  the  slave  population  of  the  South 
is  a  great  check  upon  the  enjoyments  of  life,  and  a  source 
of  constant  apprehension  and  of  very  frequent  alarm.  It 
seems  to  me  that  if  I  lived  at  the  South,  I  should  have  the 
bloody  scenes  of  St.  Domingo  and  the  Southampton  massa 
cre  haunting  my  fears  continually.' 

'  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  felt  alarmed  on  account  of  per 
sonal  exposure  at  the.  South,  although  I  resided  there,  many 
years,  in  the  midst  of  a  slave  population  chiefly.  I  confess, 
however,  I  now  conceive  the  danger  greatly  increased. 
Your  mother  was  once  obliged,  in  company  with  a  multi 
tude  of  other  ladies  and  their  children,  to  flee,  in  the  night, 
several  miles  into  the  country,  at  a  time  of  threatened  insur 
rection.  In  some  parts  of  the  Southern  States  such  causes 
of  fear  and  momentary  distress,  are  not  un  frequent.' 

'  I  suppose,  Pa,  that  the  circumstances  of  the  Southampton 
insurrection  are  recollected  by  you  :  will  you  give  us  some 
account  of  it.  I  have  forgot  its  detail,  although  I  retain  the 
impression  which  it  made.  The  leader  of  that  insurrection 
was  a  Negro,  was  he  not?' 

*  It  would  neither  be  pleasant  nor  profitable  to  dwell  on 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  73 

Great  vigilance  necessary. 

that  most  melancholy  catastrophe.  Suffice  it  to  say,  it  was 
planned  by  a  Negro,  by  the  name  of  Turner.  He  communi 
cated  his  plans  to  a  few  kindred  spirits,  who  with  ready 
minds  and  hands  engaged  in  the  work  of  preparation.  The 
minds  of  others  were  gradually  prepared  for  the  intended 
event.  When  the  work  of  destruction  commenced,  they 
armed  themselves  with  hatchets  and  axes.  Turner  ascended 
by  a  ladder  to  the  upper  part  of  his  master's  house  in  the 
silence  of  night,  and  passing  down  stairs,  opened  the  outer 
doors  of  the  house  to  his  followers,  and  told  them  the  work 
was  now  open  to  them,  Turner  himself  giving  the  first  blow 
with  a  hatchet  both  to  his  master  and  mistress  as  they  lay 
asleep  in  bed.  Turner,  in  his  confession,  said  that  his 
"master  sprung  from  the  bed  and  called  his  wife,  but  it  was 
the  last  word ;  another  blow  laid  him  and  his  wife  both  dead." 
The  murder  of  the  family,  five  in  number,  was  the  work  of 
a  moment.  "Not  one  of  them  awoke,"  said  Turner.  He 
continued,  "There  was  a  little  infant  sleeping  in  a  cradle, 
that  was  forgotten  until  we  had  left  the  house  and  gone  some 
distance,  when  Harry  and  Will  (two  accomplices)  returned 
and  killed  it.  We  got  here  four  guns  and  several  old  mus 
kets,  with  a  pound  or  two  of  powder."  They  then  pro 
ceeded  to  the  next  house,  a  mile  distant.  They  there  shot  a 
man  whom  they  met  in  the  yard.  It  was  now  day-light. 
The  family  in  the  house  took  the  alarm,  and  fastened  the 
door.  With  one  stroke  of  an  axe  the  door  was  broken  in. 
They  entered,  and  finding  two  ladies,  they  killed  them,  one 
with  a  single  blow  of  an  axe,  the  other,  Turner  said,  he 
"took  by  the  hand  and  with  a  sword  struck  her  several 
blows  over  the  head,  but  the  sword  being  dull,  another  Negro 
despatched  her  with  an  axe."  At  another  house,  after  hav 
ing  murdered  all  the  family  but  the  lady  and  her  daughter, 
Turner  said  that  one  of  his  associates  "  pu  lied  the  lady  out 


74  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Insurrectionary  alarms. 

of  the  house,  and  on  the  steps  severed  her  head  from  her 

body   with    a  broadaxe."      "  Miss  ,"   he    continues, 

"  when  I  discovered  her,  had  concealed  herself  in  the 
corner  formed  by  the  projection  of  the  cellar-cap  from  the 
house.  On  my  approach  she  fled,  but  was  soon  overtaken, 
and,  after  repeated  blows  with  the  sword,  I  killed  her  by  a 
blow  on  the  head  with  a  fence-rail." 

*  In  this  way  they  proceeded  until  more  than  sixty  per 
sons,  men,  women,  and  children,  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  ven 
geance  of  their  slaves.  I  cannot  go  through  with  a  rehearsal 
of  all  the  circumstances.  I  have  not  a  heart  for  it.  What 
has  been  related,  nearly  in  the  language  of  Turner  himself, 
will  serve  to  give  one  some  faint  idea  of  the  horrors  of  a 
Negro  insurrection,  and  of  the  dangers  against  which  the  ut 
most  vigilance  is  necessary  to  guard  the  lives  of  multitudes. 

1 1  have  here  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  in  Georgia,  which 
will  perhaps  enable  you  to  form  a  more  vivid  idea  of  the  sen 
sation  produced  in  every  southern  town,  when  an  insurrec 
tion  is  apprehended.  The  letter  was  written  some  time 

since,  not  to  myself,  but  to  Mr. .  Will  you  read  it, 

Henry  ?' 

[Reads. ~\  "  The  papers  from  this  state  have  no  doubt 
apprised  you  of  the  excitement  which  prevails  here  about 
our  black  population.  We  were  all  thrown  into  great  fright 
and  confusion,  a  few  nights  since,  by  a  report  that  the  ne 
groes  on  a  plantation  about  five  miles  distant  had  risen,  and 
were  marching  direct  for  the  town.  It  was  11  o'clock  at 
night,  when  the  whole  population  were  in  their  beds.  You 
cannot  conceive,  no  matter  how  active  your  imagination  may 
be,  the  scene  that  ensued.  In  an  hour,  every  woman  and 
child  in  the  place  was  transported  to  the  largest  building  in 
the  town  for  safety,  and  a  large  patrol  placed  in  front  to  pro- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  75 

Slavery  an  evil  to  master  and  slave. 

tectthem.     I  had  retired  when  the  alarm  was  given,  but  we 
immediately  got  up  and  dressed,  and  were  soon  after  joined 

by  Mrs. ,  with  her  infant,  pale  as  marble.     I  closed  the 

door,  and  urged  them  to  be  quiet,  and  remain  in  the  house ; 
but  it  was  useless — go  they  would — others  were  gone,  and 
they  would  not  stay  to  be  murdered.  Finding  reasoning 
lost,  I  opened  the  door  and  out  we  sallied — your  humble  ser 
vant  with  a  half  naked  babe  in  his  arms,  and  two  women  by 
his  side,  scudding  with  as  much  speed  as  a  Baltimore  schoo 
ner,  under  a  full  press  of  canvass.  *  *  We  staid  all  night. 
*  The  alarm  has  subsided,  but  I  do  not  think  we 
are  safe  one  hour.  The  very  elements  of  destruction  are 
around  us,  mingling  in  all  our  relations,  and  wre  know  not  at 
what  moment  the  storm  may  burst  over  us.  An  insurrec 
tionary  spirit  is  abroad,  and  God  only  knows  when  it  will  be 
subdued — my  own  opinion  is  that  it  never  will  be." 

'  O  slavery  !'  said  Caroline,  *  I  hardly  know  which  situa 
tion  is  more  distressing — that  of  the  slave-holder,  or  his 
bondmen.' 


76  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Slavery  attended  with  anxieties. 


CONVERSATION   VIII. 


"  What  day  passes  by  without  the  occurrence  of  some  event,  or  the  wit 
ness  of  some  scene,  which  draws  from  every  feeling  heart  a  sigh  or  a  prayer 
for  the  complete  fulfilment  of  all  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  the  friends  of 
colonization  ?  It  is  not  merely  for  an  unfortunate  portion  of  our  fellow  be 
ings,  who  have  been  thrown  upon  our  charity,  that  this  Society  is  formed  : 
ourselves,  our  children,  our  land,  and  every  institution  of  our  beloved  coun 
try,  are  deeply  involved." — Bishop  Meade. 


*"\VE  are  now  ready  for  another  conversation  on  Africa.  I 
thought  that  you,  at  least,  Caroline,  retired  from  the  subject 
last  night  well  satisfied  with  a  residence  in  a  non-slave-hold 
ing  state,  and  congratulating  yourself,  perhaps,  that  you 
could  lay  your  head  on  your  pillow  without  the  apprehen 
sion  of  being  aroused  before  morning  by  the  cry  of  "  an  in 
surrection  ?" 

'Indeed,  Pa,  I  have  thought  much  of  the  South  ;  more, 
perhaps,  because  I  was  born  there  ;  and  I  acknowledge  that 
I  have  often  wished  to  see  the  land  of  my  infancy  and  ear 
liest  childhood,  especially  when  I  have  heard  you  speak  so 
honourably  and  feelingly  of  the  kindness  and  hospitality  of 
the  South,  and  so  affectionately  of  the  many  warm  friends 
we  have  there.  I  have  myself  formed  a  very  exalted  idea 
of  the  warm-hearted  friendship  and  genuine  hospitality  of  the 
South.  I  also  think  I  should  like  their  pleasant  winters,  and 
should  relish  their  summer  fruits.  Still  I  cannot  say  that  I 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  77 

Severe  enactments. — Severe  laws  necessary. 

am,  in  view  of  all  circumstances,  anxious  to  take  up  my 
residence,  even  for  a  few  months,  in  the  midst  of  so  much 
anxiety  and  alarm  as  I  am  sure  I  should  feel  in  any  place 
surrounded  by  a  population  composed,  in  a  great  proportion, 
of  slaves.  I  want  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  slaves.  I  can 
adopt  Cowper's  declaration  with  all  sincerity  : 

"  I  would  not  have  a  slave  to  till  my  ground, 

To  carry  me,  to  fan  me  while  I  sleep, 

And  tremble  when  I  wake,  for  all  the  wealth 

That  sinews  bought  and  sold  have  ever  earn'd. 

No  :  dear  as  freedom  is,  and  in  my  heart's 

Just  estimation  prized  above  all  price, 

I  had  much  rather  be  myself  the  slave, 

And  wear  the  bonds,  than  fasten  them  on  him." 

*  Pa,'   said   Henry,  '  are   not  the   laws  of  slave-holding 
states  very  severe  in  respect  to  the  slave  ?     I  have  read  some 
very  cruel  enactments,  as  they  appeared  to  me.     I  recollect 
that  about  the  time  of  the  Southampton  massacre,  or  soon 
after  it,  the  legislature  of  Louisiana  adopted  very  severe  re 
solutions,  in  respect  to  slaves,  and  ordered  all  free  people 
who  had  lately  come  into  the  state,  to  leave  it  within  sixty 
days.' 

*  I  would  offer  no  apology  for  slavery,  my  son ;  but  it  is 
conceded  by  all  that  its  very  existence  seems  to  require  some 
provision  for  its  maintenance.     In  my  own  view,  the  neces 
sity  for  severe  enactments,  shows  slavery  to  be  a  great  evil. 
It  is  pleaded  by  the  people  of  the  South,  that  rigorous  laws 
and  those  which  seem  to  some  cruelly  severe,  are  made  ne 
cessary  by  "  the  interference  of  strangers."     The  resolu 
tions,  for  instance,  to  which  you  refer  as  having  passed  the 
Louisiana  legislature,  were  adopted  a  few  days  after  the  ar 
rest  in  New  Orleans  of  four  free  persons  of  colour  engaged 
in  circulating  "  Walker's  Appeal,"  called  more  commonly 

F2 


78  CONVERSATIONS    ON  SLAVERY. 

Dangerous  publications. — The  South  must  be  vigilant. 

both  at  the  South  and  the  North,  "  the  diabolical  Boston 
pamphlet."  This  pamphlet  was  calculated  to  endanger  the 
lives  of  the  whole  white  population  of  the  Southern  country, 
wherever  it  should  obtain  circulation  among  the  blacks. 
Even  in  Boston,  although  there  was  no  law  which  took  cog 
nizance  of  the  act,  the  municipal  Judge  referred  to  that  pub 
lication  in  his  charge  at  the  opening  of  the  next  court,  as  one 
of  highly  reprehensible  character,  and  he  regretted  that  the 
laws  had  not  anticipated  the  offence.  In  Georgia,  too,  about 
the  same  time,  the  legislature  thought  it  necessary  to  impose 
a  quarantine  of  forty  days  on  all  vessels  arriving  with  free 
coloured  persons  on  board,  and  to  oblige  the  captains  of  such 
vessels  to  carry  away  again  all  such  persons ;  and  they  also 
enacted  that  the  circulation  of  pamphlets  of  evil  tendency 
among  domestics,  be  considered  a  capital  offence.  The 
same  law  makes  it  penal  to  teach  free  persons  of  colour,  or 
slaves,  to  read  or  write,  and  prohibits  the  introduction  of 
slaves  into  the  state  for  sale.  These  enactments  also  were 
in  consequence  of  a  message  of  Gov,  Gilmer,  founded  upon 
a  pamphlet  of  dangerous  character  which  was  found  to  be  in 
circulation  in  Savannah. 

'  Other  severe  legislation  has  taken  place  in  these  and 
other  states  from  time  to  time,  for  similar  reasons.  It  is,  to 
say  the  least,  truly  an  unfortunate  state  of  things  which  re 
quires  such  security.' 

'  Pa,  I  can  hardly  regard  any  one  as  a  good  citizen,  or 
considerate  man,  who  would  throw  these  publications,  as  so 
many  firebrands,  into  the  midst  of  a  slave  population.  I 
should  think  it  would  be  like  casting  coals  of  fire  into  a  ma 
gazine,'  said  Caroline. 

*  These  laws,'  Mr.  L.  further  remarked,  *  are  chiefly  of 
recent  date ;  and  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  the  causes  which 


flUNXvEBSITl 

CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  79 

The  South  must  be  diligent. 

led  to  their  adoption  and  seemed  to  render  them  necessary, 
would  cease  to  operate,  and  that  these  laws  would  be  altered 
or  repealed.  The  evil  complained  of,  however,  it  is  said, 
has  continued  to  exist,  and  that  too  accompanied  with  aggra 
vated  circumstances  which  have  led  to  renewed  and  more 
rigorous  legislation  ;  whilst  also  appeals  have  been  made  by 
several  of  the  states  through  their  legislatures  to  the  non- 
slave-holding  states,  asking  them  to  legislate  on  the  subject, 
so  as  to  make  punishable  in  all  the  states  the  issuing  of  such 
publications  as  strike  at  the  peace  and  security  of  other  parts 
of  the  Union.  Congress  has  also  been  occupied  in  much 
unprofitable  discussion  growing  out  of  the  present  state  of 
things,  whilst  from  one  part  of  the  country,  petitions  have 
flowed  in  upon  the  two  houses  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia;  and  from  another,  efforts  have 
been  made  to  subject  the  Post-office  establishment  to  such 
regulations  that  a  supervisory  power  shall  exclude  from  the 
mails  all  publications  deemed  incendiary,  and  also  to  secure 
from  our  national  legislature  a  pledge  that  the  United  States 
has  no  authority  touching  the  question  of  slavery  even  with 
in  their  own  domain,  the  ten  miles  square  in  which  our  capi- 
tol  is  located. 

1  The  greatest  circumspection  should,  doubtless,  be  ob 
served  for  the  safety  of  the  South,  or  the  consequence  of  re- 
missness  on  their  part  will  be  the  sacrifice  of  many  valuable 
lives,  both  among  the  whites  who  may  be  the  victims  of  an 
insurrectionary  movement,  and  the  blacks  who  would  fall  in 
its  suppression.' 

'  Have  we  reason  to  suppose  that  an  insurrection  of  the 
Negroes  at  the  South  will  ever  be  permanently  successful? 
It  was,  I  believe,  at  St.  Domingo  ?' 

'  It  cannot  be  attended  with  permanent  success,  so  long  as 


80  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Insurrectionary  attempts  ruinous  to  the  blacks. 

the  Union  endures.  Mr.  Clay  has  correctly  remarked,  "  It 
would  be  speedily  suppressed  by  the  all-powerful  means  of 
the  United  States ;  and,  it  would  be  the  madness  of  despair 
in  the  blacks  that  should  attempt  it.  But,  if  attempted  in 
some  parts  of  the  United  States,  what  shocking  scenes  of 
carnage,  rapine,  and  lawless  violence  might  not  be  perpe 
trated  before  the  arrival  at  the  theatre  of  action  of  a  com 
petent  force  to  quell  it !  And  after  it  is  put  down,  what 
other  scenes  of  military  rigour  and  bloody  executions  to 
punish  the  insurgents,  and  impress  their  whole  race  with  the 
influence  of  example  !" 

i  The  necessity  of  keeping  the  blacks  in  ignorance,  it 
seems  to  me,  is  greatly  to  be  regretted.' 

'  It  is.  I  cannot  myself,  however,  believe  in  such  neces 
sity.  The  slave  and  the  free  should  both  be  instructed.  In 
what  way  instruction  should  be  given  may  be  a  matter  of  in 
quiry.  This  subject  may  be  regulated  according  to  what 
shall  appear  safest  and  most  equitable  in  respect  to  all  con 
cerned.  But  to  withhold  moral  and  religious  instruction 
from  any  human  being,  is  altogether  unjustifiable.  To  be 
stow  generally  that  instruction  also  which  prepares  for  the 
enjoyment  of  freedom,  I  think  also  is  both  duty  and  good 
policy.  If  the  slave  remain  a  slave,  I  cannot  think  that  entire 
ignorance  is  necessary ;  and  if  he  is  ever  to  be  free,  it  is  cer 
tainly  necessary  that  he  should  be  instructed.' 

4 1  think  I  have  heard  you  say,  Pa,  that  you  have  given 
instruction  to  slaves — and  that  no  objection  was  made  by  their 
masters  ?' 

'  I  have  myself  instructed  several — and  I  have  friends  who 
have  given,  or  caused  instruction  to  be  given,  to  many  more. 
I  do  not  mean  religious  and  moral  instruction  only  either.  I 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  81 

Slaves  should  not  be  kept  in  ignorance. 

have  myself  heard  a  slave  at  the  South  recite  from  the  Latin 
and  Greek  Classics.  That  slave  was  also  acquainted  with 
the  Hebrew.  1  have  seen  Negroes  at  the  South  admitted  to 
equal  privileges  in  some  of  the  first  literary  institutions.  I 
know  many  slave-holders  who  disclaim  the  idea  that  it  is  ne 
cessary  to  keep  slaves  in  ignorance  ;  and  I  know  not  a  few 
benevolent  masters  and  mistresses,  who,  either  in  person, 
instruct  their  slaves,  or  cause  others  to  do  it  under  their  di 
rection.  This,  it  is  true,  is  not  according  to  the  letter  of  the 
laws,  if  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  government  in  the 
slave-holding  states.  Jealousy  and  fear,  perhaps  I  ought  to 
say  common  prudence,  have  caused  severe  laws,  which  pre 
clude  the  instruction,  lawfully,  in  some  instances,  of  both 
bondman  and  coloured  freeman.  Not  even  religious  and 
moral  instruction  is  to  be  given  except  under  certain  restric 
tions.  But  I  believe  that  any  man  in  whom  the  community 
may  have  confidence,  might  pass  his  life  very  usefully  at 
the  South  in  the  instruction  of  Negroes,  bond  and  free,  with 
the  entire  approbation  of  the  whites,  notwithstanding  all  pre 
sent  legal  enactments,  there  being  little  disposition  to  enforce 
the  letter  of  the  law  except  in  necessary  cases.' 

'  Of  what  use  then  are  the  enactments  ?' 

'  The  slave-holder,  perhaps,  will  tell  you  that  these  enact 
ments  enable  the  Southern  community  of  whites  to  keep  the 
power  in  their  own  hands,  against  all  who  would  exert  a 
dangerous  influence ;  but  that  they  were  never  designed  to 
operate  except  as  a  preventive  of  insurrectionary  plans  and 
incentives.' 

1  You  think,  Sir,  that  the  laws  in  regard  to  blacks  in  the 
Southern  States  would  be  of  a  very  different  character,  were 
it  not  for  the  indiscreet  measures  of  men  who,  professing  to 


82  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Kindly  feelings  of  the  South. 

befriend  the  slave,  endanger  the  safety  of  both  whites  and 
blacks,  in  their  hostility  to  slavery  ?' 

'  I  do  ;  and  there  are  a  multitude  of  facts  to  which  I  might 
refer — facts  of  no  doubtful  character — in  support  of  that 
sentiment.  It  is  an  opinion  also  which  I  have  heard  ex 
pressed  by  intelligent  blacks  at  the  South,  who  generally 
most  heartily  deprecate  any  interference  in  their  concerns, 
by  citizens  of  non-slave-holding  States.  Their  situation  is 
made  extremely  trying  oftentimes  by  such  interference.  Still 
I  would  by  no  means  impugn  the  motives  of  any  class  of 
the  true  friends  of  Africa.  Aspersions  are  often  cast,  no 
doubt  most  unjustly,  on  the  motives  of  a  portion  of  the  ad 
vocates  of  universal  emancipation.  Incendiaries  and  evil 
disposed  men  there  may  be  among  them  ;  but  indiscriminate 
censure  is  generally  wrong.' 

'  Why,  Pa,  do  not  the  slave-holding  States  unite,  and  rid 
themselves  of  the  evil  at  once  ?  I  am  sure  they  might  do 
better  than  continue  to  cherish  an  evil  so  fraught  with  dan 
ger  and  solicitude/ 

'  My  daughter,  they  feel,  (and  I  have  no  doubt  that  under 
existing  circumstances,  the  conviction  is  honest,)  that  they 
cannot  rid  themselves  of  the  evil  so  easily,  as  some  ima 
gine.  There  is,  the  Southron  will  tell  you,  a  relation  be 
tween  the  owner  of  slaves,  and  the  unhappy  beings  who 
are  thrown  upon  him,  which  is  far  more  complicated,  and 
far  less  easily  dissolved,  than  a  mind  unacquainted  with  the 
whole  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  is  apt  to  suppose — a  rela 
tion  growing  out  of  the  very  structure  of  society. 

'  Go,  for  instance,  to  the  slave-holder,  and  propose  to  him 
to  emancipate  his  slaves.  He  feels  the  evils  of  slavery  as 
strongly,  and  probably  more  so  than  you  can  feel  them — 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  83 

Difficulties  of  emancipation. 

and  who  will  say  that  he  has  not  as  much  benevolence  in 
his  heart  as  we  in  ours  ?  The  laws  of  his  State,  framed  ac 
cording  to  the  dictates  of  the  best  judgment  of  legislators, 
forbid  emancipation,  except  under  certain  restrictions,  which 
are  deemed  absolutely  necessary  to  prevent  pauperism,  and 
wretchedness,  and  crime,  and  utter  ruin  :  and  here  are  hu 
man  beings  dependant  on  him  for  protection,  and  govern 
ment,  and  support.  The  relation  he  did  not  voluntarily  as 
sume.  He  was  born  the  legal  proprietor  of  his  slaves,  just 
as  much  as  he  was  born  the  subject  of  civil  government. 
This  fact  is  often  sneered  at ;  but  it  is  fact  notwithstanding. 
And  it  is  his  duty,  and  a  duty  which  he  cannot  well  avoid, 
to  make  the  best  provision  for  them  in  his  power.  Too  fre 
quently,  it  would  be  just  as  humane  to  throw  them  overboard 
at  sea,  as  to  set  them  free  in  this  country.  Moreover,  if  he 
turn  them  out  to  shift  for  themselves,  he  turns  out  upon  the 
community  those  who  in  all  probability  will  become,  most 
of  them,  vagabonds,  paupers,  felons,  a  pest  to  society.  He 
will  tell  you  that  as  a  Christian,  as  a  patriot,  as  a  philanthro 
pist,  as  an  honest  man,  and  humane  friend  of  the  blacks,  he 
finds  insuperable  obstacles  to  the  accomplishment  of  what 
you  propose.  He  will  tell  you,  perhaps,  that  it  is  "  a  con 
summation  devoutly  to  be  wished."  Many,  I  believe,  are 
precisely  of  this  state  of  mind. 

'  I  acknowledge  that  I  have  had  my  northern  prejudices  ; 
and  those  prejudices  were  strong — they  stirred  within  me 
indignation — and  almost  revenge.  But  I  would  now  indulge 
in  no  sweeping  anathema  against  the  South.  I  have  been, 
for  years,  in  a  situation  to  see  the  tremendous  evil  of  slavery 
as  it  is.  I  can  therefore  sympathize  with  the  slave-holder 
who  regrets  the  necessity  which,  in  a  measure,  compels  him 
to  hold  his  fellow-men  in  bondage,  whilst  at  the  same  time 
I  abhor  slavery  with  my  whole  heart.  I  can  bear  witness 


84  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Duty  to  slaves  does  not  always  require  emancipation. 

also  to  the  humanity  of  slave-holders  in  the  Southern  States, 
so  far  as  my  acquaintance  and  observation  has  extended.  It 
has  far  exceeded  the  feeling  which  I  have  usually  found  in 
dulged  towards  blacks,  in  my  native  New  England,  or  in 
the  Middle  States.  The  specimens  of  ill-treatment  of  slaves 
with  which  the  world  is  served  up,  now  and  then,  by  the 
issuing  of  a  new  edition  of  the  old  stereotype  form,  and 
which  seem  to  be  but  too  well  suited  to  the  taste  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  community,  are  a  wretched  caricature,  and 
as  unfair  specimens  of  the  general  treatment  which  slaves 
receive,  as  would  be  the  assassination  and  murder  of  an  in 
dividual  in  this  State,  held  up  as  a  sample  of  Philadelphia 
morals.  A  much  kindlier  feeling,  I  am  satisfied,  is  indulged 
towards  blacks  at  the  South,  than  at  the  North.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  85 

Properly  in  human  flesh  a  revolting  thought. 


CONVERSATION   IX. 


"Frown  indignantly  on  the  first  dawnings  of  every  attempt  to  alienate 
any  portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which 
now  link  together  the  various  parts." — Washington. 


is  a  way,  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  on  the  conversation 
being  resumed,  '  which  some  people  have,  of  talking  of 
slaves  as  "property"  which  is  exceeding  grating  to  my 
ears,  and  at  which  my  mind  always  revolts.' 

1  As  to  that,  my  daughter,'  said  Mr.  L.,  'if  any  man  talks 
of  this  species  of  property  as  if  it  were  his  unqualified  right 
to  hold  his  fellow-men  in  bondage  without  any  regard  to  the 
circumstances  and  necessity  of  the  case,  the  whole  civilized 
world,  and  the  laws  of  Christian  nations  which  have  pro 
nounced  the  slave  trade  to  be  piracy,  are  against  him.  It  is 
not  often  that  we  hear  any  man  attempt  to  justify  slavery  in 
the  abstract,  or  that  we  find  one  who  looks  upon  his  slaves 
in  precisely  the  same  light  in  which  most  people  regarded 
them  when  the  slave-trade  was  legitimate, 

'There  are,  I  know,  exceptions  to  the  generally  correct 
and  Christian  sentiments  and  declarations  of  distinguished 
men  at  the  South  on  this  subject.  I  have  not  forgotten  the 
painful  sensations  with  which  I  have  read  some  remarks  that 
have  fallen  from  the  lips  of  a  few  individuals.  A  Governor 
of  South  Carolina,  in  a  message  to  the  Legislature  of  his 

G 


86  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Sentiments  of  Southern  men. 

State,  a  few  years  since,  said,  "  Slavery  is  not  a  national 
evil ;  on  the  contrary  it  is  a  national  benefit.  *  *  Slavery 
exists  in  some  form  every  where,  and  it  is  not  of  much 
consequence,  in  a  philosophical  point  of  view,  whether  it  be 
voluntary,  or  involuntary."  A  Governor  of  the  same 
State  has  recently  used  still  stronger  language  in  vindication 
of  slavery.  But  such  sentiments,  I  am  inclined  to  consider 
as  an  anomaly,  on  the  whole,  and  not  a  fair  representation  of 
the  views  of  the  South  ;  much  less  can  they  receive  the 
approbation  of  the  American  people.  The  man  who  can 
utter  them  is  far  behind  the  age  in  which  we  live. 

*  I  recollect  also  an  address  delivered  in  South  Carolina,  a 
few  years  since,  by  one  of  her  distinguished  sons,  in  which 
the   speaker   maintained  that   slavery,   as    it  exists   in  the 
Southern  States,  is  "  no  greater,  or  more  unusual  evil,  than 
befals  the  poor  in  general ;  that  its  extinction  would  be  at 
tended  with  calamity  to  the  country,  and  to  the  people  con 
nected  with  it,  in  every  character  and  relation ;  that  no  ne 
cessity  exists  for  such  extinction  ;  that  slavery  is  sanctioned 
by  the   Mosaic  dispensation  ;  that  it  is  fulfilment  of  the  de 
nunciation  pronounced  against  the  second  son  of  Noah  ;  that 
it  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  genius   and  spirit  of  Chris 
tianity  ;  nor  considered  by  St.  Paul  as  a  moral  evil." 

*  I  have   also  noticed  the  recent  remarks  upon  the  floors 
of  Congress,  of  certain  Southern  gentlemen ;  and  read  seve 
ral  addresses  lately  delivered  in  various  slave-holding  States, 
some  of  which  take  the  ground  that  slavery  "is  sanctioned 
by  the  religion  of  the  Bible,"  as   well  as  justified  in  law; 
and  one  declares  "  solemnly    and  emphatically,"  that  "if 
any  man  at  the  South  makes  but  a  movement  towards  eman 
cipation — equal  or  partial — immediate  or  remote,  he  is  faith 
less  to  the   duty  which  he  owes  to   his  State — faithless  to 
the  duty  which  he  owes  to  his  God." 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  87 

Sentiments  of  Southern  men. 

'  Another  specimen  of  Southern  views  on  the  subject, 
may  be  found  in  a  debate  which  I  have  before  me,  that  oc 
curred  not  long  since  in  a  synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Virginia.  A  proposition  was  before  the  Synod  that  "  all 
the  domestic  relations,  (meaning  to  include  slavery,)  stand 
upon  precisely  the  same  ground  in  Scripture."  The  REV. 
DR.  H.  expressed  his  astonishment  at  the  views  presented. 
He  "  could  not  agree  by  any  means,  that  the  relation  of 
master  and  slave  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  husband 
and  wife.  No,  nor  at  all  the  same.  The  one  is  a  natural 
relation,  ordained  of  God,  and  sanctioned  by  Him  for  the 
happiness  of  man ;  but  the  other  had  its  origin  in  injustice 
and  wrong  and  is  never  sanctioned  in  the  Bible  ;  unless  al 
lusions  to  it  as  an  existing  relation  and  a  tolerated  evil  are  so 
misinterpreted.  But  because  it  is  an  existing  relation. 
does  it  follow  that  it  has  a  basis  like  that  of  the  relation  of 
husband  and  wife  ?  God  forbid !  The  relations  differ 
widely  and  essentially,  not  only  in  their  nature,  but  also  in 
the  fact  that  one  is  permanent,  and  the  other  continues  only 
by  the  strong  necessity  of  the  ease.  It  is  absurd  to  main 
tain  that  there  is  a  precise  similarity  in  the  relations,  either 
in  their  natural  basis,  or  their  perpetuity.  I,  for  one,  can 
not  consent  to  any  phraseology  which  looks  that  way.  It 
is  unscriptural  and  false.  I  maintain  that  slavery  con 
tinues  only  by  necessity ;  and  that  it  OUGHT  TO  BE  ABO 
LISHED  AS  SOON  AS  IT  CAN  BE,  CONSISTENTLY  WITH  THE  GOOD 
OF  ALL  CONCERNED." 

'The  REV.  DR.  B.,  who  is  a  distinguished  Professor  in 
the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  was  somewhat  opposed  to 
the  views  of  his  distinguished  friend.  He  "  denied  that  the 
relation  is  unlawful ;  it  is  recognized  by  Scripture.  The 
apostles  treated  it  as  a  relation  morally  right,  considering 
all  the  circumstances.  Nor  can  any  thing  be  done  to  coun- 


88  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Sentiments  of  Southern  men. 

teract  the  incendiary  efforts  of  fanaticism,  until  \ve  take 
scriptural  views  of  this  subject,  and  maintain  them  from 
Scripture.  It  is  also  impossible  to  do  much  for  the  ex 
tensive  religious  instruction  of  the  slaves  themselves,  unless 
they  are  made  to  understand  that  their  masters  have  a 
scriptural  right  to  maintain  their  authority.  The  public 
mind  seems  to  be  much  shaken  upon  this  subject,  even  in 
our  own  section  of  country.  But  it  is  a  fact  established  by 
Scripture,  that  the  master  has  a  moral  right  to  retain  his  re 
lation  to  his  slaves.  There  are,  however,  reciprocal  duties 
for  each  to  perform,  which  are  too  commonly  and  fearfully 
neglected." 

'Another  learned  DOCTOR  of  divinity,  the  President  of 
Hampden  Sidney  College,  did  "  not  think  it  necessary  to 
take  such  ground.  The  truth  is,  that  slavery  is  so  much 
involved  in  the  very  texture  of  society,  that  immediate  de 
struction  is  an  utter  impossibility.  Even  supposing  the 
existing  relation  to  be  sinful,  yet  the  abolitionists  are  so  wild 
in  their  mode  of  action,  that  they  never  can  succeed.  No 
thing  can  be  done  in  the  way  they  are  attempting.  They 
do  not  seem  to  consider  consequences  at  all,  or  to  reflect  that 
the  subject  has  intricate  relations,  and  many  troublesome  po 
litical  and  social  bearings.  On  a  certain  occasion,  it  is  said, 
an  eagle  caught  up  an  innocent  lamb,  and  was  flying  off  with 
its  prey  in  the  air,  when  suddenly  the  intelligent  bird  was 
convinced  of  its  injustice  ;  and,  desirous  of  making  imme 
diate  reparation,  it  let  go  its  hold,  and  dashed  the  lamb's 
brains  out !  Such  is  abolition  benevolence  !" 

4  The  REV.  MR.  L.  insisted  with  much  earnestness,  that 
it  was  "  necessary  to  take  the  ground  assumed  by  Dr.  B., 
and  by  the  paper  read.  The  churches  expect  a  full  expres 
sion  of  sentiment  on  the  part  of  pastors  ;  and  it  will  not  do 
to  give  the  subject  the  go  by,  in  the  way  intimated  by  the 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  89 

Sentiments  of  Southern  men. 

last  speaker.  It  is  not  enough  merely  to  denounce  the  abo 
litionists,  and  to  say  that  they  were  wrong.  We  ought  to 
give  the  reasons  of  our  difference  of  opinion,  and  to  let 
them  know  that  we  maintain  our  existing  relations  with  the 
slaves,  because  the  Bible  gives  us  authority  to  do  it" 

'  The  REV.  MR.  S.  thought  "  the  paper  which  had  been 
read  goes  too  far.  It  extenuates  slavery,  and  leaves  false 
impressions  upon  the  mind.  I  justify  slavery,  not  from 
Scripture,  but  from  circumstances.  Slavery  is  a  moral 
evil,  and  ought  to  be  done  away  as  soon  as  possible.  Bet 
ter  contend  for  immediate  emancipation,  than  for  perpetual 
servitude.  The  actual  degraded  condition  of  the  African 
race  is  the  only  reason  why  slavery  ought  not  to  be  abolish 
ed  this  very  hour.  Ethiopia  must  one  day  stretch  forth  her 
hands  unto  the  Lord,  and  my  prayer  is,  that  that  time  may 
speedily  come  !  Life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness, 
are  the  right  of  all ;  and  can  only  be  taken  away  by  the 
claims  of  a  harsh  and  stern  necessity.  Something  ought  to 
be  done  at  once,  and  effectually,  for  the  amelioration  of  the 
condition  of  the  slaves.  But  let  not  this  Synod,  even  in  ap 
pearance,  assume  principles  which  justify  the  perpetuity  of 
slavery." 

'  The  REV.  MR.  W.  said,  "  that  to  his  mind  two  things 
were  perfectly  clear:  1st.  The  relation  of  master  and  slave 
is  justified  by  Scripture.  The  Holy  Spirit  has  marked  out 
the  existence  of  that  relation.  2d.  Our  Saviour  and  his 
apostles  never  intended  to  interfere  with  the  civil  relations 
of  society,  except  by  the  silent  influence  of  religion  upon 
the  heart  and  life.  Whenever  an  attempt  has  been  made  to 
force  mankind,  in  anticipation  of  the  preparation  which  can 
only  be  effected  by  the  gospel,  harm  has  always  been  done. 
I  cannot  but  think  that  the  views  expressed  in  the  paper  are, 
in  the  main,  correct." 


90  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Sentiments  of  Southern  men. 

'  The  REV.  MR.  T.,  another  Professor  in  the  Theologi 
cal  Seminary,  would  "  never  interfere  in  a  political  way 
with  any  matter.  But  would  touch  the  subject  in  a  scrip 
tural  way.  This  is  a  Bible  question.  Slavery  has  bearings 
upon  very  important  actual  duties  in  life,  for  which  the  Bible 
provides.  The  ultimate  influence  of  the  gospel  will  change 
the  order  of  society  ;  but  it  will  be  only  when  all  parties 
are  willing  that  the  change  should  take  place,  and  then  who 
will  complain  ?  The  Bible  has  power  to  break  every  un 
holy  bond,  and  to  set  every  thing  right  in  society.  If  any 
think  slavery  will  be  eternal,  I  differ  very  much  from  them. 
Nor  does  the  paper,  which  has  been  read,  contain  any  sen 
timent  implying  a  desire  to  perpetuate  slavery  " 

1  The  REV.  MR.  A.,  now  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
believed  "  that  rash  and  bold  assertions  have  unsettled  the 
minds  of  many  Christians  in  reference  to  slavery."  He  was 
for  adopting  a  circular  letter,  giving  a  scriptural  view  of  the 
subject.  "  The  Bible,  no  doubt,  tolerates  the  existing  re 
lation,  in  view  of  the  circumstances  of  the  case." 

1  W.  M.  ESQ.,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  and  elder  of  the 
church,  remarked  that  he  was  "  by  no  means  satisfied  with 
the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  paper.  To  say  that  slavery 
stands  upon  precisely  the  same  ground  with  the  other  social 
relations,  is  to  my  mind  very  far  from  being  precisely 
true." 

"  Such  views  leave  the  impression  that  slavery  may  continue 
an  indefinite  period,  without  sin.  For  if  the  Bible  sanc 
tions  it,  the  thing  is  morally  right ;  and  if  morally  right,  we 
are  under  no  obligations  to  remove  it.  But  is  this  scripture  ? 
Must  we  sit  still,  and  do  nothing  for  the  removal  of  this  cry 
ing  evil  ?  Must  we  wait  for  some  miraculous  interposition 
of  divine  agency  ?  With  the  Bible  in  our  hands,  no  one 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  91 

Sentiments  of  Southern  men. 

can  doubt  that  slavery  is  inconsistent  with  its  spirit  and  its 
precepts ;  and  we  are  bound,  therefore,  to  aim  at  emancipa 
tion.  Lord  Chatham  once  said,  that  he  would  never  come 
into  parliament,  with  the  statute  book  doubled  down  with 
dog's  ears  to  prove  that  liberty  was  the  birth-right  of  British 
subjects.  Nor  will  I,  cried  Mr.  Maxwell,  come  into  this 
Synod,  with  my  Bible  doubled  down  in  dog's  ears,  to  prove 
that  slavery  is  wrong.  No,  sir,  I  will  not  undertake  such  a 
work  of  supererogation  !  One  need  read  but  the  first  chap 
ter  in  the  word  of  God  to  be  convinced  that  slavery  is  wrong. 
How  was  man  created  ?  With  dominion  over  the  soul  and 
body  of  his  fellow-man  ?  No !  There  was  no  slavery 
in  Eden.  Nor  would  there  have  been  any  to  curse  the  earth, 
unless  Satan  had  prevailed  in  the  temptation.  It  is  prepos 
terous  to  go  to  the  Bible  to  defend  slavery.  Its  universal  spirit 
is  against  the  institution,  gloriously  against  it !  But  some 
have  said,  that  although  slavery  is  wrong  in  the  abstract,  yet 
circumstances  have  made  it  morally  right.  This  phraseolo 
gy,  sir,  I  object  to.  That  which  is  once  wrong,  can  never 
become  morally  right.  It  never  can  become  right  in  such  a 
sense  as  releases  us  from  obligations  to  attempt  the  removal 
of  the  original  evil.  It  never  can  become  morally  right,  in 
the  common  acceptation  of  the  phrase.  The  most  we  can 
say  of  it  is,  that  it  may  be  tolerated  on  account  of  an  impe 
rious  and  dreadful  necessity.  To  say  that  slavery  is  moral 
ly  right,  would  be  a  virtual  abrogation  of  the  law  of  love. 

'  "  Yet,  whilst  I  deny  that  slavery  can  be  said  to  be  morally 
right,  I  maintain  the  existence  of  a  necessity,  which  palliates, 
under  the  circumstances,  the  temporary  continuance  of  the 
relation.  But  mark!  I  found  my  position  not  on  Scripture, 
nor  on  the  moral  lawfulness  of  slavery ;  but  simply  on  the 
fact  of  a  necessity.  To  illustrate  my  idea  :  Killing  a  man 
in  the  abstract  is  wrong,  just  as  slavery  is.  And  yet  1  may 


92  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Sentiments  of  Southern  men. 

kill  a  man  in  a  particular  case  of  self-defence.  Circum 
stances  justify  me;  self-preservation  is  the  valid  plea.  And 
yet  I  may  wilfully  kill  no  man,  if  1  can  avoid  it.  I  am 
bound  to  use  every  means  to  release  myself  from  the  neces 
sity  of  taking  the  life  of  a  human  being.  So  it  is  with 
slavery.  I  have  no  right  before  God  or  men  to  keep  my 
fellow  man  in  bondage,  except  in  view  of  the  peculiar  exi 
gency.  I  may  not  rest  satisfied  while  he  is  deprived  of  his 
liberty.  I  am  bound  to  make  every  effort  for  his  deliver 
ance;  and  unless  I  do  my  best  to  get  rid  of  the  necessity,  I 
am  guilty  of  the  sin  of  unjustifiable  slavery — just  as  much 
as  in  other  circumstances,  I  would  be  guilty  of  unjustifiable 
homicide.  But  if  I  am  aiming  at  emancipation,  and  doing 
that  which  is  'just  and  right'  to  my  slaves,  I  may,  during 
the  interval  preserve  my  authority  over  them.  It  is  the  dic 
tate  of  self-preservation,  as  well  as  the  impulse  of  benevo 
lence,  to  do  so. 

«  "  We  must  try  to  get  rid  of  slavery.  We  have  no  right 
to  cling  to  our  slaves,  under  the  delusion  that  the  Scripture 
justifies  the  system  as  morally  right.  By  colonization  we 
can  rescue  many  from  their  servile  degradation.  And  if  any 
other  rational  plan  of  emancipation  is  practicable,  we  are 
under  obligations  which  no  man  may  disregard  with  impu 
nity,  to  embrace  the  occasion,  and  let  the  oppressed  go  free. 

'"In  regard  to  immediate  abolition,"  said  Mr.  M.,  "but 
one  single  opinion  can  flash  through  the  minds  of  this  assem 
bly.  It  is  a  scheme  of  destruction  and  ruin.  It  is  casting 
off  the  slave  to  let  him  sink.  It  is  adding  death  to  injustice, 
murder  to  oppression.  God  forbid  that  we  should  add  this 
to  our  sins  ! 

' "  But  whilst  I  condemn  the  immediate  abolition  scheme,  I 
cannot  sanction  the  principles  contained  in  the  paper  which 
has  led  to  this  discussion.  Such  principles,  instead  of  Iran- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  93 

Sentiments  of  Southern  men. 

quilizing  Christians,  would  only  disturb  them  the  more  ;  be 
cause  their  consciences  will  not  stay  tranquillized.  SLAVE 
RY  IS  ABHORRENT  TO  THE  ENLIGHTENED  CONSCIENCE,  aild  all 

efforts  to  give  it  false  peace,  would,  in  the  end,  only  increase 
its  agitations.  I  am  satisfied  that  Southern  Christians  will 
not  receive  such  principles  ;  let  not  the  Synod  of  this  ancient 
commonwealth  sanction  any  principles  which  seem  to  justify 
slavery,  especially  from  Scripture.  Let  us  tell  the  world 
that  we  abhor  the  system,  and  only  justify  its  continuance 
amongst  us  by  an  imperious  necessity,  which  our  feeble 
hands  cannot  now  control.  God  forbid  that  we  should  as 
sume  a  position,  favourable  even  in  appearance,  to  the  per 
petuity  of  human  bondage !" 

'  1  have  thus  occupied  your  attention  by  this  debate  at  some 
length,  because  I  think  it  but  a  fair  expression  of  Southern 
views  and  feelings  generally  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  I 
need  hardly  say  that  the  proposition  which  gave  rise  to  the 
debate  was  rejected. 

*  There  are,  it  is  to  be  supposed,  some  whose  rashness  is 
greater  than  their  judgment,  who  recklessly  assert  principles 
which  would  find  few  advocates  among  the  virtuous  or  consi 
derate  any  where;  but  I  am  persuaded  that  there  is  a  more 
correct  sentiment  prevailing  at  the  South  among  the  enlight 
ened  and  influential  part  of  the  community  than  is  generally 
supposed,  and  perhaps  than  might  be  inferred  from  this  de 
bate.  Otherwise,  we  might  have  less  hope  for  the  slave, 
and  greater  fear  for  our  country — and  be  led  to  endorse  in 
despair  the  words  of  the  poet : 

"  Yet,  yet,  degraded  men  !  the  expected  day 
That  breaks  your  bitter  cup  is  far  away  ; 
Trade,  wealth,  and  fashion,  ask  you  still  to  bleed, 
And  holy  men  give  Scripture  for  the  deed." 

'  But  to  show  what  have  been  the  sentiments  of  the  South 


94  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Views  and  feelings  of  distinguished  Southrons. 

on  this  subject,  still  more  clearly,  and  what  are  the  views 
which  we  may  expect  still  to  prevail,  I  will  also  refer  to 
other  instances. 

1  Sa)Ts  one  who  has  stood  high  in  the  public  confidence  at 
the  South,  "  Almost  all  masters  in  VIRGINIA  assent  to  the 
proposition,  that  when  the  slaves  can  be  liberated  without 
danger  to  themselves,  and  to  their  own  advantage,  IT 
OUGHT  TO  BE  DONE."  He  adds,  "  If  there  are  few  who 
think  otherwise  in  Virginia,  I  feel  assured  there  are  few  such 
any  where  at  the  South." 

It  was  the  language  of  PATRICK  HENRY,  "  It  would  re 
joice  my  very  soul,  that  every  one  of  my  fellow  beings  was 
emancipated.  As  we  ought,  with  gratiude,  to  admire  that 
decree  of  heaven  which  has  numbered  us  among  the  free,  we 
ought  to  lament  and  deplore  the  necessity  of  holding  our  fel 
low-men  in  bondage." 

'  Said  ZACHARIAH  JOHNSON,  in  the  same  debate  before  the 
legislature  of  Virginia,  when  the  distinguished  Patrick 
Henry  uttered  the  above, — "  Slavery  has  been  the  founda 
tion  of  that  impiety,  and  dissipation,  which  have  been  so 
much  disseminated  among  our  countrymen.  If  it  were  to 
tally  abolished,  it  would  do  much  good.  *  *  The  princi 
ple  (of  emancipation)  has  begun,  since  the  Revolution  ;  let  us 
do  what  we  will,  it  will  come  round." 

*  Gov.  RANDOLPH,  in  the  same  debate,  approved  the  hope 
"  that  those  unfortunate  men,  held  in  bondage,  might,  by  the 
operation  of  the  general  government,  be  made  free." 

*  JUDGE  TUCKER,  in  1795,  wrote — "The  introduction  of 
slavery  into  this  country,  is,  at  this  day,  considered  among 
its  greatest  misfortunes."     In  1803  he  wrote — "  Will  not 
our  posterity  execrate  the  memory  of  those  ancestors,  who, 
having  it  in  their  power  to  avert  evil,  have,  like  their  first 
parents,   entailed    a   curse   upon   all    future    generations  ? 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  95 

Southern  views. 

What  a  blood-stained  code  that  must  be,  which  is  calculated 
for  the  restraint  of  millions  held  in  bondage.  Such  must 
our  unhappy  country  exhibit,  unless  we  are  both  wise  and 
just  enough  to  avert  from  posterity  the  calamity  and  reproach 
which  are  otherwise  unavoidable." 

*  Mr.  JEFFERSON  asks,  "  Can  the  liberties  of  a  nation  be 
thought  secure,  when  we  have  removed  their  only  firm  basis, 
a  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  that  their  liberties 
are  the  gift  of  God?" 

'  JUDGE  WASHINGTON,  in  a  speech  before  the  Colonization 
Society,  expressed  the  decided  hope  that  colonization  "  would 
lead  to  the  slow,  but  gradual  abolition  of  slavery,"  and 
"  wipe  from  our  political  institutions,  the  only  blot  which 
stains  them." 

1  GEN.  HARPER,  has  spoken  of  slavery  as  "a  great  moral 
and  political  evil,  of  increasing  virulence  and  extent,  from 
which  much  mischief  is  now  felt,  and  very  great  calamity  in 
future,  is  justly  apprehended." 

'  GEN.  MERCER  remarks,  "  The  hope  of  the  gradual  and 
utter  abolition  of  slavery,  in  a  manner  consistent  with  the 
rights,  interests,  and  happiness  of  society,  ought  never  to  be 
abandoned." 

*  W.  H.  FITZHUGH,  ESQ.,  who  proved  the  sincerity  of  his 
remarks,  by  the  liberation  of  all  his  slaves,  and  by  a  liberal 
provision  for  them  in  Liberia,  bears  this  testimony — "  Slave 
ry,  in  its  mildest  form,  is  an  evil  of  the  darkest  character. 
Cruel  and  unnatural  in  its  origin,  no  plea  can  be  urged  in 
justification  of  its  continuance  but  the  plea  of  necessity — the 
necessity  which  requires  us  to  submit  to  existing  evils,  rather 
than  substitute  by  their  removal,  others  of  a  more  serious  and 
destructive  character.     There  is  no  rivetted  attachment  to 
slavery  prevailing  extensively,  in  any  portion  of  our  coun 
try.     Its  injurious  effects  on  our  habits,  our  morals,  our  indi- 


96  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Southern  views. 

vidual  wealth,  and  more  especially  on  our  national  strength 
and  prosperity,  are  universally  felt,  and  almost  universally 
acknowledged." 

'  WILLIAM  GASTON,  of  North  Carolina,  formerly  a  distin 
guished  member  of  Congress,  and  now  on  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  that  State,  in  an  address  before  a  literary 
and  philanthropic  society  in  the  University  of  North  Caro 
lina,  in  1832,  says — "On  you  will  devolve  the  duty  which 
has  been  too  long  neglected,  but  which  cannot  with  impunity 
be  neglected  much  longer,  of  providing  for  the  mitigation, 
and  (is  it  too  much  to  hope  for  in  North  Carolina?)  for 
the  ultimate  extirpation  of  the  worst  evil  that  afflicts  the 
southern  part  of  our  confederacy.  *  *  Disguise  the  truth 
as  we  may,  and  throw  the  blame  where  we  will,  it  is  slavery 
which,  more  than  any  other  cause,  keeps  us  back  in  the  ca 
reer  of  improvement."  *  *  "  How  this  evil  is  to  be  en 
countered,  how  subdued,  is  indeed  a  difficult  and  delicate 
inquiry." 

*  COL.  DRAYTON,  of  South  Carolina,  in  the  course  of  an 
elaborate  speech  in  Congress,  not  long  since,  sketched  a  pic 
ture  of  slavery,  and  a  brief  of  the  views  of  the  South,  which 
was  reported  in  the  words  following.  Col.  Dray  ton  was 
ever  regarded  as  not  only  a  man  of  distinguished  talents,  but 
as  remarkable  for  his  candour,  excellent  judgment,  and  ho 
nourable  feelings.  "There  was  not  a  person  who  more 
deeply  commiserated  slaves  than  he  did;  but  while  their 
pillows  are  planted  with  thorns,  their  masters  do  not 
repose  on  downy  beds.  The  miseries  extended  to  the 
whole  circle  of  society  in  which  they  move.  He  spoke  from 
actual  experience  of  these  miseries.  Could  he  destroy  the 
evil,  no  zealous  fanatic  would  more  easily  try  to  extirpate  it 
than  his  fellow-citizens  of  the  South  and  himself.  None 
know  more  the  misery  of  slavery  than  those  who  hold  slaves. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  97 

Misrepresentations  and  unkind  remarks. 

'  "  Slavery  is  indeed  a  bitter  draught,  and  though  thousands 
are  made  to  drink  of  it,  yet  still  it  is  a  bitter  draught.  Such 
are  the  peculiar  habits  of  slaves,  that  they  will  enjoy  the 
song-  and  the  dance,  and  spend  the  night  in  revelry  and  feast 
ing,  while  the  master  is  stretched  on  a  sleepless  couch. 
Would  one  feeling  thus  wish  to  perpetuate  the  evil !  Let 
not  such  a  mistake  prevail.  It  is  the  interest  of  the  master 
to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  slaves  as  much  as  he  can ; 
and  those  mistaken  philanthropists  who,  without  understand 
ing  the  situation  of  that  part  of  the  country,  intrude  their  ef 
forts  at  amelioration,  only  make  the  condition  of  the  slave 
more  wretched.  No  one  can  administer  successfully  to 
a  disease  who  is  ignorant  of  its  character.  No  one  can 
beneficially  prescribe,  who  is  ignorant  of  the  effect  of  the 
medicine  he  administers.  The  citizens  of  the  South 
know  how  far  to  go  with  safety  to  themselves,  and  he  who 
ignorantly  interferes,  converts  intended  benefits  into  serious 
injuries.  The  Southern  citizens  know,  but  they  suffer  none 
others  to  interfere.  Interference  they  consider  as  an  injury, 
and  are  disposed  to  resent  it  as  an  insult.  When  gentlemen 
talk  of  government  having  a  right  to  interfere,  they  speak 
without  proper  consideration." 

'  Such  are  the  opinions  of  gentlemen  of  eminent  talents, 
all  of  whom  are,  or  were,  of  the  South ;  most  of  whom,  if 
not  all,  have  been  extensive  proprietors  of  slaves. 

'  It  certainly  becomes  us  to  be  open  to  conviction,  and 
willing  to  receive  the  truth.  It  is  a  great  misfortune,  grow 
ing  out  of  the  actual  condition  of  the  several  states,  some 
being  exempt  from,  and  others  liable  to,  the  evils  of  slavery, 
that  they  are  too  prone  to  misrepresent  the  views  and  wishes 
of  each  other  in  respect  to  it.' 

'  In  some  publications,  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  *  which  Henry 

H 


98  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Severity  of  remark  unwise. 

and  I  have  been  looking  over  since  these  conversations  began, 
we  have  seen  some  very  unkind  remarks  respecting  the 
South,  calculated  to  wound  the  feelings  of  her  citizens  deep 
ly,  and  exceeding  severe  on  some  of  the  gentlemen  whose 
language  you  have  quoted.  In  a  file  of  the  Liberator,  a 
writer,  who  is  thought  to  be  Mr.  Garrison,  having  selected 
certain  passages  from  the  writings  of  such  men  as  Mr.  Clay, 
Gen.  Harper,  Gen.  Mercer,  Mr.  Harrison,  President  Cald- 
well,  and  others,  exclaims — "  Ye  crafty  calculators!  ye 
hard-hearted,  incorrigible  sinners  !  ye  greedy  and  relent 
less  robbers !  ye  contemners  of  justice  and  mercy  !  ye  trem 
bling,  pitiful,  pale-faced  usurpers !  my  soul  spurns  you 
with  unspeakable  disgust!"  I  cannot  think  that  good  men, 
even  among  abolitionists,  can  approve  of  this  language.' 

*  Such  severity  of  denunciation  against  those  who  are 
among  the  wisest  and  best  men  of  the  country,'  remarked 
Mr.  L.,  'is  wrong,  very  wrong;  and  I  cannot  think  it  is 
approved  by  any  considerable  portion  of  the  community. 
Whoever  the  writer  was,  he  is  deserving  of  reprehension. 
His  course  will  rivet  the  chains  of  slavery,  not  loose  them. 

'  It  were  well  for  our  country,  and  better  for  our  coloured 
population,  especially  for  the  slaves,  if,  in  regard  to  this 
whole  matter,  every  citizen  were  to  cherish  kindly  and  cha 
ritable  feelings.  The  last  advice  of  our  illustrious  Washing 
ton  was,  "  FROWN  INDIGNANTLY  ON  THE  FIRST  DAWNINGS  OF 

EVERY  ATTEMPT  TO  ALIENATE  ANY  PORTION  OF  OUR  COUNTRY 
FROM  THE  REST,  OR  ENFEEBLE  THE  SACRED  TIES  WHICH  NOW 
LINK  TOGETHER  THE  VARIOUS  PARTS."  ' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  99 

Introduction  of  slavery. 


CONVERSATION    X. 


"  We  determined  not  to  suffer  slavery  there  ;  but  the  slave  merchants  and 
their  adherents  occasioned  us  not  only  much  trouble,  but  at  last  got  the  then 
government  to  sanction  them.  We  would  not  suffer  slavery,  (which  is 
against  the  gospel,  as  well  as  the  fundamental  law  of  England,)  to  be  au 
thorized  under  our  authority  ;  we  refused,  as  trustees,  to  make  a  law  permit 
ting  such  a  horrid  crime.  The  government,  finding  the  trustees  resolved 
firmly  not  to  concur  with  what  they  thought  unjust,  took  away  the  charter 
by  which  no  law  could  be  passed  without  our  consent." — Oglethorpe. 


4  GOOD  morning,  my  daughter — good  morning,  Henry,'  said 
Mr.  L.,  as  he  entered  the  parlour,  quite  early  in  the  morn 
ing,  '  shall  we  now,  although  earlier  than  our  usual  hour  for 
conversation,  turn  our  attention  again,  for  a  few  minutes,  to 
the  subject  of  Africa's  wrongs,  and  the  unfortunate  relation 
to  her  children,  into  which  our  country  has  been  introduced 
by  the  policy  of  England,  and  the  cupidity  of  her  traders  in 
human  flesh  ?  I  think  we  shall  have  an  hour  before  the  time 
for  family  prayer.' 

Caroline  and  Henry  were  both  pleased  with  the  proposi 
tion.  '  Will  you  tell  us,  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  '  at  what  time 
slaves  were  first  brought  to  this  country,  and  where  they 
were  sold.  I  shall  be  gratified  to  be  more  familiar  with 
the  facts  that  assure  us  that  our  country  is  not  respon 
sible  for  the  original  introduction  of  slavery  to  the  western 
world.' 


100  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Virginia  opposed  to  slavery. 

'  It  will  give  me  pleasure  to  gratify  your  wishes  in  this 
respect.  The  first  shipment  of  slaves  to  our  country,  was 
on  the  very  year  that  the  "  Pilgrim  fathers"  of  New  Eng 
land,  as  the  first  settlers  of  New  England  are  called,  first 
stepped  upon  Plymouth  Rock,  and  thirteen  years  after  the 
first  settlement  on  the  James  river.  The  **  cargo !"  was 
landed  at  Jamestown,  and  sold  to  the  planters  of  Virginia. 
It  consisted  of  twenty  Africans  from  the  coast  of  Guinea, 
brought  to  the  colony  in  a  Dutch  vessel,  under  the  sanction 
and  by  the  authority  of  British  laws. 

'  Although  by  the  purchase  of  these  and  other  slaves 
which  soon  followed,  individuals  lent  themselves  to  the  op 
pression  of  Africa's  unhappy  children,  it  is  due  to  the  colo 
nial  ancestry  of  Virginia  to  say  that  they,  at  a  very  early 
period,  earnestly  remonstrated  against  these  importations. 
Their  appeals  to  the  British  crown,  were  loud  and  frequent, 
but  unsuccessful.  They  had  no  voice  in  the  government 
under  whose  laws  slavery  was  introduced,  and  no  control 
over  its  decisions.  Therefore  I  have  said  that  we  are  not 
responsible,  as  a  nation,  for  the  introduction  of  the  trade. 
The  origin  of  slavery  in  our  land  is  to  be  referred  to  the 
agency  of  a  foreign  government,  and  the  evil  of  slavery  con 
sidered  as  an  incumbrance  connected  with  our  English  in 
heritance. 

'  It  should  be  mentioned  also  to  the  credit  of  Virginia, 
that  the  legislature  of  that  colony,  at  an  early  period,  enact 
ed  laws  to  counteract  the  evil,  by  imposing  restrictions  on 
the  introduction  of  slaves ;  and  that  it  is,  at  the  same  time, 
a  matter  of  history  by  no  means  honourable  to  the  mother 
country,  that  those  measures  of  the  colony  were  discounte 
nanced,  and  the  laws  which  the  legislature  enacted,  rejected 
by  Government  as  injurious  to  the  commerce  of  England. 
Thus  slavery,  with  all  its  unhappy  consequences,  was  entail- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  10 1 

The  first  Slave-ship. 

ed  upon  the  colonies  to  promote  the  supposed  interests  of 
England.  It  should  be  understood,  moreover,  that  this  very 
conduct  of  the  British  crown,  is  a  grievance  set  forth  in  the 
Declaration  of  our  Independence  among  the  causes  of  the 
Revolution.' 

4  Do  you  recollect,  Caroline,'  said  Henry,  '  those  lines  by 
Mrs.  Sigourney,  entitled  The  First  Slave-ship  ?' 

'  I  do  not ;  but  I  should  like  to  hear  them.  I  admire 
Mrs.  S.'s  poetical  genius  ;  and  take  the  more  interest  in 
every  thing  from  her  pen  since  she  is  the  acquaintance  and 
very  esteemed  friend  of  our  dear  mother.' 

"  First  of  that  race  which  curst  the  wave, 

And  from  his  rifled  cabin  bore, 
Inheritor  of  wo,  the  slave 

To  bless  his  palm-tree's  shade  no  more ! 

Dire  engine  !  o'er  the  troubled  main 

Borne  on  in  unresisted  state, 
Know'st  thou  within  thy  dark  domain, 

The  horrors  of  thy  prison'd  freight  ? 

The  fetter'd  chieftain's  burning  tear, 

The  parted  lovers'  mute  despair, 
The  childless  mother's  pang  severe, 

The  orphan's  agony,  are  there. 

Hear'st  thou  their  moans  whom  hope  has  fled, 

Wild  cries  and  agonizing  starts  ? 
Know'st  thou  thy  hurried  sails  arc  spread 

With  ceaseless  sighs  from  breaking  hearts? 

Oh!  could'st  thou  from  the  scroll  of  fate 

The  miseries  read  of  future  years, 
Stripes,  tortures,  unrelenting  hate, 

And  death-gasps  drown'd  in  ceaseless  tears. 


102  CONVERSATIONS  OX  SLAVERY. 

Early  date  of  slavery  in  Africa. 

Down,  down,  beneath  the  cleaving  main 
Thou  fain  would'st  plunge  where  monsters  lie, 

Rather  than  ope  the  gates  of  pain 
For  time,  and  for  eternity. 

Oh  Afric' !  what  has  been  thy  crime, 

That  thus  like  Eden's  fratricide, 
A  mark  is  set  upon  thy  clime, 

And  every  brother  shuns  thy  side  ? 

Yet  are  thy  wrongs,  thou  long  distrest, 

Thy  burden  by  the  world  unweigh'd, 
Safe  in  that  UNFORGETFUL  BREAST, 

Where  all  the  sins  of  earth  are  laid. 

The  sun  upon  thy  forehead  frown'd, 

But  man,  more  cruel  far  than  he, 
Dark  fetters  on  thy  spirit  bound  ; 

Look  to  the  mansion  of  the  free  ! 

Look  up,  to  realms  where  chains  unbind, 
Where  powerless  falls  the  threatening  rod, 

And  where  the  paliont  sufferers  find 
A  Friend — a  FATHER  in  their  GOD." 

'  Oh  !  it  makes  my  heart  bleed,'  said  Caroline,  « to  think 
of  the  evils  of  which  that  first  slave-ship  was  the  precursor 
to  our  country  ;  and  of  the  wrongs  which  -from  that  ill-fated 
hour  that  the  cruel  Dutchman  found  a  market  for  his  injured 
fellow-men,  have  been  so  unsparingly  meted  out  to  Africa 
by  citizens  of  this  highly-favoured  land.  How  I  wish  the 
purchase  had  never  been  made.' 

"  Were  the  Dutch  the  first  people  who  engaged  in  the 
traffic,  Pa  ?' 

4  No,  Henry,  slavery  existed  in  Africa,  long  before  the 
transportation  of  slaves  from  Africa  to  this  or  to  any  coun- 
try.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  103 

Foreign  traffic  in  slaves. 

*  It  was  in  Africa  that  Joseph  became  the   slave  of  Poti- 
phar ;  and  the  Egyptians,  you  know,  Henry,  enslaved  Is 
rael,'   said  Caroline.     '  When  I   think  of  these  things,  the 
thought  occurs  sometimes,  that  it  is  possible  that  Africans 
may  again  have  their  day  of  prosperity,  and  the  whites,  who 
are  now  their  oppressors,  may  in  their  turn  become  slaves.' 

'  It  is  too  near  the  dawn  of  a  happier  day,  I  trust,  for 
such  apprehensions  to  be  realized  ;  but,  my  daughter,  if  such 
an  event  were  to  occur,  think  you  there  would  not  be  one 
mind  among  us  in  regard  to  the  evils  of  slavery  ?  The  pre 
judices  which  now  blind  the  minds  of  many,  that  they  can 
hardly  see  any  injustice  in  slavery,  would  all  be  removed. 

*  The  practice  of  holding  slaves,  I  was  remarking,  exist 
ed  in  Africa,  long  before  slaves  were  transported  thence  to 
foreign  countries.     The  Moors  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  pro 
bably  acquired   the   practice  from  the  Mahometans   in   the 
North  of  Africa ;  and  as  evil  communications  and  examples 
always  have  a  corrupting  tendency,  the  practice  of  employ 
ing  and  owning  slaves  soon  prevailed  among  both  the  Por 
tuguese  and  the  Spaniards,  and  then  among  other  nations. 

4  The  commencement  of  the  traffic  in  African  slaves,  by 
foreign  countries,  was  probably  in  the  year  1454;  when 
Henry,  King  of  Portugal,  under  authority  from  the  Roman 
Pontiffs,  took  possession  of  several  islands  and  harbours  on 
the  coast,  and  from  thence  making  descents  on  the  swarm 
ing  villages  of  Africa,  seized  the  unsuspecting  inhabitants 
and  carried  them  into  slavery. 

'  It  would  seem,  from  what  little  of  the  history  of  the 
slave-trade  I  have  been  able  to  trace,  that  in  1481,  the  na 
tives  having  become  terrified  by  the  frequent  depredations 
committed  upon  them,  retired  into  the  interior.  Their  in 
vaders  finding  it  difficult,  therefore,  to  obtain  slaves  in  so 


104  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Slaves  introduced  into  Hispaniola. 

great  numbers  and  so  expeditiously  as  they  desired,  a  treaty- 
was  made  through  the  influence  of  bribes  and  presents,  be 
tween  the  traders  and  African  chiefs,  the  chiefs  engaging  to 
furnish  subjects  for  the  inhuman  traffic.  Wars  between  dif 
ferent  tribes,  man-stealing,  treachery  and  distrust,  misery 
and  ruin,  have  been,  thenceforward,  the  consequence ;  and 
slavery  has  been  the  systematized  business  of  the  several 
tribes. 

4  The  Portuguese  have  the  credit,  in  history,  of  com 
mencing  the  unhallowed  traffic,  and  of  introducing  slavery 
into  this  Western  world.  In  1508,  slaves  were  carried  into 
Hispaniola,  or  Little  Spain,  as  it  was  called  by  Columbus  ; 
now  St.  Domingo,  one  of  the  West  India  Islands  :  and  in 
the  year  1517,  slaves  were  introduced  into  the  Brazilian 
colonies  in  South  America. 

'  It  is  said  that  the  project  of  transporting  slaves  from  Af 
rica  to  the  New  World,  was  first  suggested  by  Bartholemi 
de  Las  Casas,  a  Catholic  Priest.  Previous  to  this  time,  ad 
venturers  to  the  Western  continent  and  the  Islands  along  the 
Atlantic  coast,  had,  with  extreme  cruelty,  reduced  to  servi 
tude  the  confiding  and  unoffending  Indians,  the  natives  of 
the  soil.  The  cruelty  with  which  they  treated  the  Indians, 
unaccustomed  to  such  usage  or  to  any  confinement  or  priva 
tions,  was  very  great.  It  is  supposed  that  when  the  Spa 
niards  discovered  the  Island  of  Hispaniola,  there  were  on  it, 
at  least  a  million  of  inhabitants,  (Las  Casas  thinks  there 
were  three  millions,)  formed  into  kingdoms,  and  each  go 
verned  by  sovereigns  called  Caciques.  Such  was  the  cru 
elty  shown  them  by  the  Spaniards,  that  they  were  reduced 
to  sixty  thousand  souls,  in  the  short  space  of  fifteen  years ; 
and  from  the  year  1508  to  the  year  1517,  they  were  further 
reduced  by  brutal  oppression  from  sixty  thousand  to  fourteen 
thousand ! 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  105 

Origin  of  slavery  in  America. 

*  A  formal  decree  of  the  King  of  Spain   had  authorized 
this  oppression  of  the  natives,  declaring  "  that  the  servitude 
of  the  Indians  (was)  warranted  by  the  laws  both  of  God 
and  man.1'' ' 

*  A  part  of  the  system  of  cruelty  carried  on  against  these 
poor  Indians,'  said  Caroline,  *  was  the  hunting  of  them  with 
blood-hounds,  was  it  not,  Pa  ?' 

*  It  was  ;  and  these,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  were  introduced  by 
Columbus,  who  was  in  other  respects  a  good  and  great  man. 
Finding  the  natives  determined  to  resist  the  oppressions  of 
his  soldiery,   he  determined  in  their  extinction,  and  went 
forth  against  them  with  all   his   strength.     The   historian 
says  that  a  "  part  of  the  force  employed  by  Columbus  on 
this  occasion  consisted  of  blood-hounds,  which  made  great 
havoc  among  the  native  Indians."    Las  Casas  says,  in  relat 
ing  subsequent  events  in  Cuba  :    "  In  three  or  four  months, 
I  saw  more   than  seven   thousand  children  die  of  hunger, 
whose  fathers  and  mothers  had  been  dragged  away  to  work 
in  the  mines.     I  was  witness  at  the  same  time  of  other  cru 
elties  not  less  horrible.    It  was  resolved  to  march  against  the 
Indians,  who  had  fled  to  the  mountains.    They  were  chased 
like  wild  beasts,  with  the  assistance  of  blood-hounds,  who 
had  been  trained  to  the  thirst  for  human  blood."* 

*The  circumstances  attending  the  introduction  of  dogs  into  the  South 
American  continent  and  islands,  and  their  subsequent  wild  state,  are  thus 
described  in  "The  History  of  the  Buccaneers  :" 

"  But  here  the  curious  reader  may,  perhaps,  inquire,  how  so  many  wild 
doga  came  here.  The  occasion  was,  the  Spaniards  having  possessed  these 
isles,  found  them  peopled  with  Indians,  a  barbarous  people,  sensual  and  bru 
tish,  hating  all  labour,  and  only  inclined  to  killing,  and  making  war  against 
their  neighbours,  not  out  of  ambition,  but  only  because  they  agreed  not  with 
themselves  in  some  common  terms  of  language  ;  and  perceiving  the  domi 
nion  of  the  Spaniards  laid  great  restrictions  upon  their  lazy  and  brutish  cus- 


106  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Origin  of  slavery  in  America. 

'  You  recollect  the  revolting  description  which  Lord  Byron 
gives  of  the  fierceness  and  rapacity  of  these  animals,  when 
they  have  once  acquired  a  fondness  for  human  flesh : — 

" He  saw  the  lean  dogs  beneath  the  wall, 

Hold  o'er  the  dead  their  carnival, 

Gorging  and  growling  o'er  carcase  and  limb — 

They  were  too  busy  to  bark  at  him, 

From  a  Tartar's  skull  they  had  stript  the  flesh, 

As  ye  pull  the  fig  when  the  fruit  is  fresh. 

The  scalps  were  in  the  wild  dog's  maw, 

The  hair  was  tangled  round  his  jaw." 

4  Las  Casas,  with  the  support  of  other  ecclesiastics,  de 
voted  his  life  to  endeavour  the  amelioration  of  their  condi- 


toms,  they  conceived  an  irreconcileable  hatred  against  them,  but  especially 
because  they  saw  ihem  take  possession  of  their  kingdoms  and  dominions  ; 
hereupon  they  made  against  them  all  the  resistance  they  could,  opposing 
every  where  their  designs  to  the  utmost ;  and  the  Spaniards  finding  them 
selves  cruelly  hated  by  the  Indians,  and  nowhere  secure  from  their  treach 
eries,  resolved  to  extirpate  and  ruin  them,  since  they  could  neither  tame 
them  by  civility,  nor  conquer  them  with  the  sword.  But  the  Indians,  it 
being  their  custom  to  make  their  woods  their  chief  places  of  defence,  at 
present  made  these  their  refuge,  whenever  they  fled  from  the  Spaniards  ; 
hereupon  those  first  conquerors  of  the  New  World  made  use  of  dogs  to 
range  and  search  the  intricatest  thickets  of  woods  and  forests,  for  those  their 
implacable  and  unconquerable  enemies ;  thus  they  forced  them  to  leave 
their  old  refuge,  and  submit  to  the  sword,  seeing  no  milder  usage  would  do 
it;  hereupon  they  killed  some  of  them,  and  quartering  their  bodies,  placed 
them  in  the  high-ways,  that  others  might  take  warning  from  such  a  punish 
ment  ;  but  this  severity  proved  of  ill  consequence  ;  for,  instead  of  frighting 
them  and  reducing  them  to  civility,  they  conceived  such  horror  of  the  Spa 
niards,  that  they  resolved  to  detest  and  fly  their  sight  forever ;  hence,  the 
greatest  part  died  in  caves  and  subterraneous  places  of  woods  and  moun 
tains,  in  which  places  I  myself  have  often  seen  great  numbers  of  human 
bones.  The  Spaniards,  finding  no  more  Indians  to  appear  about  the  woods, 
turned  away  a  great  number  of  dogs  they  had  in  their  houses,  and  they 
finding  no  masters  to  keep  them,  betook  themselves  to  the  woods  and  fields 
to  hunt  for  food  to  preserve  their  lives ;  thus,  by  degrees,  they  became  un 
acquainted  with  houses  and  grew  wild.  This  is  the  truest  account  I  can 
give  of  the  multitudes  of  wild  doga  in  these  parts." 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  107 

Mistaken  philanthropy  of  Las  Casas. 

tion.  He  crossed  the  Atlantic  for  the  purpose  again  and 
again.  He  braved  all  clangers,  and  shrunk  from  no  fatigue 
in  their  behalf,  but  unceasingly  urged  the  claims  of  the  op 
pressed  Indians,  at  the  Spanish  court. 

*  In  his  sympathy  for  one  class  of  his  fellow-men,  how 
ever,  Las  Casas  forgot  or  disregarded  the  rights  of  another 
class.     From   at  least   mistaken   motives  of  humanity,  he 
finally  proposed  to  the  Emperor,  Charles  V.,  a  project  to 
import  slaves   from  Africa,  representing  that  the  warm  cli 
mate  of  the  South  would  be  congenial  to  their  natures,  and 
that  thus   the   labours   of  the  surviving   Indians   might   be 
greatly  relieved. 

'  This  project,  unfortunately,  was  adopted,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  African  slavery  in  the  Western  World. 

*  The  condition  of  the  poor  Indians,  however,  was  by  no 
means  bettered.     The  Bishop  of  Chiapa,  I  mean  Las  Casas, 
had  the  mortification  to  find  the  chains  which  it  was  the  ob 
ject  of  his  life  to  break,  ri vetted  more  firmly,  whilst  the  poor 
Africans  became,  through  his  influence,  fellow-sufferers  with 
the  Indians  in  slavery  !     The  final  and  mournful  history  of 
these  poor  Indians,  has  been   written,  in  one  sentence,  by 
the  biographer  of  Columbus.     Says  Irving,  "  They  have 
long  since   passed   away,  pining  and  perishing  beneath  the 
domination  of  the  strangers,  whom  they  welcomed  so  joy 
fully  to  their  shores." 

4  The  error  of  Las  Casas,  is  one  into  which  even  good 
men,  of  ardent  temperament  and  philanthropic  minds,  may 
sometimes  fall,  impressed  with  the  importance  of  a  subject 
which  enlists  the  best  feelings  of  human  nature.  They  may 
take  too  limited  and  partial  a  view  of  the  subject,  and  lose 
sight  of  important  connexions  and  incidental  circumstances, 
in  their  devoted  attention  to  the  single  object  which  absorbs 
their  immediate  sympathies.' 


108  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  plea  of  political  necessity  often  abused. 

Caroline  here  suggested,  'It  would  be  extremely  unfortu 
nate  if  by  any  imprudent,  or  misdirected  zeal,  we  should  be 
guilty  of  a  similar  error,  in  attempting  to  better  the  condition 
of  the  enslaved  Africans  in  our  land,  and  should  thus  bring 
down  upon  them  and  our  country  greater  evils  than  we  are 
striving  to  avert.  This,  I  should  infer,  is  feared  by  some. 
You,  I  think,  intimated,  some  time  since,  that  harsh  and  cen 
sorious  language,  and  coercive  measures,  have  that  ten 
dency.' 

4  We  cannot,  with  propriety,  or  with  good  hope  of  safety 
or  success,  be  indifferent  to  consequences  ;  or  refuse  to  take 
counsel  of  circumstances,  in  determining  the  best  way  of 
promoting  any  cause,  however  good. 

'  Nothing,  surely,  is  to  be  gained  by  indulging  in  contemp 
tuous,  acrimonious,  or  threatening  language,  towards  our 
Southern  brethren,  in  regard  to  slavery.  They,  it  is  to  be 
presumed,  know  as  well  as  we,  the  tremendous  evils  of  slave 
ry,  and  are  far  more  deeply  concerned  than  we  in  an  appli 
cation  of  the  proper  remedy.  The  course  which  is  some 
times  taken  in  regard  to  this  subject,  is  not  fraternal,  and 
therefore  neither  politic  nor  wise.  Language  that  is  calcu 
lated  unnecessarily  to  wound  the  feelings  of  the  South,  and 
consequently  to  destroy  harmony  of  feeling,  sentiment  and 
action,  on  this  important  subject,  should  be  carefully  avoided 
by  the  good  people  of  the  Eastern  and  middle  sections  of  our 
country.  Besides,  it  should  be  considered  that  no  measures 
can  tend  to  the  ultimate  benefit  of  the  slaves,  in  which  the 
slave-holders  do  not  generally  and  heartily  concur.  The 
best  interests  of  slave  and  master  are  probably  more  identi 
fied  with  each  other,  and  involved  together,  than  is  generally 
imagined.  There  are  circumstances  which  render  entire 
and  immediate  emancipation  ruinous  to  both  master  and 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  109 

Must  not  take  advantage  of  our  own  wrong. 

slave  ;  and  there  are  circumstances  which  are  felt  also  at  the 
South,  that  render  it  greatly  desirable  to  the  master  that 
slavery  should  end. 

'  At  the  same  time  that  I  make  these  remarks,  I  must  also 
say  that  no  pretence  of  political  necessity,  can  plead  a  valid 
excuse  for  those  who  would  perpetrate  any  wrongs  whatever. 
The  butchery  by  wholesale,  (for  it  was  little  better  than 
wholesale  butchery,)  of  the  poor  Indians  in  Hispaniola,  was 
pursued  under  a  most  execrable  pretence,  that  of  political 
necessity.  And  in  the  same  plea,  almost  every  public  crime 
which  has  disgraced  our  race,  and  made  the  world  an  arena 
of  strife,  a  field  of  blood,  has  found  [its  constant  defence. 
That  whole  policy  I  would  repudiate,  and  utterly  detest. 
There  may  be  circumstances,  however,  which  render  it  an 
imperious  duty,  doubtless,  in  aiming  even  to  redress  the 
wrongs  that  have  been  done,  to  inquire  seriously  and  prayer 
fully  into  the  best  manner,  and  the  most  probably  successful 
means  of  redress.  Many  in  our  land  profess  to  find  them 
selves  precisely  in  this  situation  in  respect  to  the  slave-ques 
tion.  The  evil,  say  they,  is  entailed  upon  our  country  as  a 
heavy  curse ;  and  how  to  bring  about  its  final  removal  in 
a  way  that  shall  be  best  for  the  slave,  and  best  for  the  coun 
try,  is  a  question  of  most  difficult  solution.  By  all,  its  im 
portance  is  confessed  to  be  great.  In  the  view  of  many  of 
the  most  energetic  friends  of  Africa,  it  assumes  a  magnitude 
and  complicateness  which  causes  the  deepest  anxiety.  In 
my  own  view,  it  is  a  question  which  may  well  task  the  wis 
dom  of  the  wise,  and  give  ample  scope  to  the  benevolence  of 
the  humane.' 

'  Why,  Pa,  to  plead  for  perpetuating  slavery  on  the  ground 
that  our  own  interests  require  it,  since  the  system  is  esta 
blished,  would  be  to  take  advantage  of  our  own  wrong1. 

i 


110  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

A  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished. 

I  hope  that  slavery  will  soon  ,be  viewed  by  all  as  an  evil 
that  calls  loudly  for  redress,  and  that  our  country  will  yet 
unite  in  some  measures  to  free  our  land  from  the  reproach  of 
slavery,  letting  the  oppressed  go  free.  I  feel  great  confi 
dence,  since  these  conversations  began,  that  this  consumma 
tion  so  "  devoutly  to  be  wished,"  will  be  brought  about. 
The  subject  has  assumed^in  many  important  respects,  an 
entirely  new  aspect,  in  my  humble  view.  The  evils  of 
slavery  magnify,  and  the  "  quo  modo,"  as  Henry  says, 
seems  to  be  attended  with  very  embarrassing  considerations, 
when  we  contemplate  the  extinction  of  the  evil.  But  slave 
ry,  it  appears  to  me,  must  cease ;  Christians  cannot,  must 
not  cease  to  pray  and  labour  for  its  extinction.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  Ill 

All  Christendom  has  been  engaged  in  the  trade. 


CONVERSATION  XL 


"  It  is  the  very  madness  of  mock  prudence  to  oppose  the  removal  of  a 
poisoned  dish,  on  account  of  the  pleasant  sauces,  or  nutritious  viands  which 
would  be  lost  with  it." — Coleridge, 


*  IN  our  last  conversation,  we  noticed  briefly  the  commence 
ment  of  the  African  slave-trade.  The  English  and  other  na 
tions  in  succession  followed  the  example  of  Portugal  and 
Spain,  and  engaged  in  the  horrid  traffic.  More  than  three 
centuries,  until  lately,  some  of  the  Christian  powers  of  Eu 
rope  have  been  engaged  in  it ;  and,  for  more  than  a  century 
and  a  half,  it  was  prosecuted  by  all  Christendom,  without 
hesitancy  or  remorse.  The  English,  the  Dutch,  the  French, 
the  Spanish,  the  Portuguese,  and  the  Danes,  have  all  en 
gaged  in  the  traffic. 

'  The  French  Guinea-Company  contracted,  in  1702,  to 
supply  the  Spanish  West  Indies  with  38,000  Negroes,  in 
ten  years.  In  1713,  a  treaty  was  made  between  England 
and  Spain,  for  the  importation  of  144,000  Negroes,  in  thirty 
years.  From  1768  to  1786,  one  hundred  thousand  slaves 
were  annually  exported  from  Africa.  In  1786,  England 
alone  employed  in  the  traffic  130  ships. 

1  Some  have  estimated  the  whole  number  of  slaves  ex 
ported  from  Africa  since  the  origin  of  the  trade,  at  nearly 
20,000,000.  Certain  it  is,  that  the  most  potent  nations  of 


112  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Africans  have  been  led  to  identify  Christianity  with  cruelty  and  perfidy. 

the  earth,  have  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in  this  fiend 
ish  work.' 

*  And  yet,  Pa,  these  nations  call  themselves  civilized  and 
Christian !' 

1  Yes,  it  is  a  painful  reflection,  as  it  is  an  indelible  re 
proach,  that  for  so  long  a  time,  the  intercourse  of  Christian 
nations  with  Africa,  instead  of  imparting  the  blessings  of 
civilization  and  religion,  has  tended  only  to  destroy  the  hap 
piness  of  Africa  and  debase  its  character.' 

'The  Africans  surely  cannot  have  conceived  a  very  fa 
vourable  impression  respecting  either  our  religion  or  our 
humanity  ?' 

4  The  treatment  which  they  have  received,  it  is  said,  had 
caused  them  to  identify  Christianity  with  perfidy  and  cruelty, 
until  recent  efforts  were  made  to  colonize  Africa  with  free 
men,  and  to  civilize  and  christianize  that  dark  continent  by 
means  of  colonization.  Mr.  Newton,  who,  you  know,  re 
sided  for  a  time  in  Africa,  and  was  engaged  in  the  slave- 
trade  when  the  world  seemed  to  be  blind  to  the  iniquity  of 
the  traffic,  says,  that  such  has  been  the  influence  of  the 
slave-trade,  in  cherishing  among  the  unfortunate  Africans 
the  vilest  passions,  enkindling  among  them  intestine  wars 
waged  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  captives,  and  inciting 
them  to  betray  and  kidnap  one  another,  that  instead  of  the 
influence  of  Europeans  being  favourable  to  piety,  "  the  best 
people  in  Africa  are  those  who  have  had  the  least  intercourse 
with  Europeans  !"  The  Africans,  he  says,  are  worse  in 
proportion  to  their  acquaintance  with  us  ;  and  often,  when 
charged  with  a  crime,  they  will  say,  "  Do  you  think  I  am  a 
white  man?"  ' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  113 

Classification  of  slaves. 

*  I  suppose  that  most  of  the  slaves  brought  from  Africa, 
are  captives  taken  by  one  tribe  from  another,  in  war  ?' 

'  Mr.  Clarkson,  I  think,  divides  the  slaves  into  seven 
classes.  The  most  considerable  class  consists  of  kidnapped, 
or  stolen  Africans.  In  obtaining  these,  every  species  of  in 
justice,  treachery  and  cruelty  are  resorted  to.  This  class, 
Mr.  C.  supposes,  embraces  one  half  of  the  whole  number 
transported  from  Africa.  The  second  class  consists  of  those 
whose  villages  are  set  on  fire  and  depopulated  in  the  dark 
ness  of  night,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  portion  of  their 
inhabitants.  The  third  class  consists  of  those  who  have 
been  convicted  of  crimes.  The  fourth,  of  prisoners  in  wars 
that  originate  from  common  causes,  or  in  wars  made  solely 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  captives  for  slaves.  The  fifth, 
such  as  are  slaves  by  birth.  The  sixth  and  seventh,  such 
as  have  surrendered  their  liberty  by  reason  of  debt,  or  by 
other  imprudences,  which  last,  however,  are  comparatively 
few  in  number.' 

'  Are  they  taken  principally  near  the  coast,  or  are  they 
from  the  interior  ?' 

*  They  are  sometimes  brought  a  distance  of  a  thousand 
miles  ;  marched  over  land  in  droves,  or  caufles  as  they  are 
called,  secured  from  running  away,  by  pieces  of  wood  which 
yoke  them  together  by  the  neck,  two  and  two,  or  by  other 
pieces  fastened  with  staples  to  their  arms.' 

*  They  are  then,  I  suppose,  carried  to  the  "  slave-fac 
tories,"  and  there  sold  in  order  to  be  shipped?' 

1  Some  are   carried  to   what   are  called    slave-factories ; 
others  immediately  to  the  shore,  and  conveyed  in  boats  to 
the  different  ships  whose  captains  have  captured  or  purchas- 
i  2 


114  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 


How  secured  and  sold. — Horrors  of  the  passage. 


ed  them.  The  men  are  confined  on  board  the  ship,  two 
and  two  together,  either  by  the  neck,  leg,  or  arm,  with  fet 
ters  of  iron ;  and  are  put  into  apartments,  the  men  occupy 
ing  the  forepart,  the  women  the  afterpart,  and  the  children 
the  middle.  The  tops  of  these  apartments  are  grated  for 
the  admission  of  light  and  for  ventilation  when  the  weather 
is  suitable  for  the  gates  to  be  uncovered,  and  are  about  three 
feet  three  inches  in  height,  just  sufficient  space  being  allotted 
to  each  individual  to  sit  in  one  posture,  the  whole  stowed 
away  like  so  much  lumber.' 

'  Poor  creatures  !'  said  Caroline,  *  how  wretched  they  must 
feel,  to  find  themselves  in  this  situation,  confined  for  trans 
portation  to  a  land  of  strangers  and  to  a  house  of  bondage — 
to  scenes  of  ignominy  and  perpetual  servitude.  They  must 
indeed  feel  wretched  beyond  expression.  O  how  hard  is  the 
human  heart !' 

'  It  is  said  that  many  of  them  whilst  the  ships  are  waiting 
for  their  full  lading,  and  whilst  they  are  near  their  native 
shore  which  they  are  no  more  to  set  foot  upon  for  ever,  have 
been  so  depressed,  and  overwhelmed  with  such  unsupport- 
able  distress,  that  they  have  been  induced  to  die  by  their 
own  hands.  Others  have  become  deranged  and  perfect  ma 
niacs,  or  have  pined  away  and  died  with  despairing,  broken 
hearts.' 

'  Horrid  !  Are  they  kept  in  the  confined  situation  you 
have  described,  during  the  whole  passage,  allowed  no  exer 
cise  nor  access  to  the  fresh  air  ?  I  should  think  they  would 
atfdie,  Pa?' 

'  In  the  day-time,  in  fair  weather,  they  are  sometimes 
brought  on  deck.  They  are  then  placed  in  long  rows  on 
each  side  the  ship,  two  and  two  together.  As  they  are 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  115 

The  middle  passage. 

brought  up  from  their  apartments,  a  long  chain  is  passed 
through  the  shackles  of  each  couple,  successively,  and  thus 
the  whole  row  is  fastened  down  to  the  deck.  In  this  situa 
tion,  they  receive  their  food.  After  their  coarse  and  meagre 
meal,  a  drum  is  beaten  by  one  of  the  sailors,  and  at  its 
sound  the  Negroes  are  all  required  to  exercise,  for  their 
health,  jumping  in  their  chains  as  high  as  their  fetters  will 
let  them ;  and  if  any  refuse  to  exercise  in  this  \vay,  they 
are  whipped  until  they  comply.  This  jumping,  the  slave- 
merchants  call  "dancing." 

'  I  have  read  frequent  accounts  of  these  cruelties,'  said 
Henry ;  « and  have  understood,  as  I  think  you  also  told  us, 
that  the  poor  slaves  suffer  most  in  what  is  called  "  the  mid 
dle  passage  :"  that  is,  I  suppose,  the  whole  time  they  are  on 
board  ship  after  they  sail  ?' 

'  Yes.  It  is  the  whole  passage  from  the  time  the  ship 
weighs  anchor  until  she  arrives  at  her  destined  port.  On 
the  passage,  the  situation  of  the  slaves  is,  indeed,  doubly 
deplorable,  especially  if  the  ship  have  a  long  passage,  and 
is  very  full.  A  full-grown  person  is  allowed,  in  the  most 
commodious  slave-ships,  but  sixteen  inches  in  width,  three 
feet  three  inches  in  height,  and  five  feet  eight  inches  in 
length.  They  lie  in  one  crowded  mass  on  the  bare  planks, 
and  by  the  constant  motion  of  the  ship,  are  often  chafed 
until  their  bones  are  almost  bare,  and  their  limbs  covered 
with  bruises  and  sores.  The  heat  is  often  so  great,  and  the 
air  they  breathe  so  poisoned  with  pestilence  by  the  feverish 
exhalations  of  the  suffering  multitude,  that  nature  can  no 
longer  sustain  itself.  It  is  no  uncommon  occurrence,  to  find, 
on  each  successive  morning,  some  who  have  died  during  the 
night,  in  consequence  of  their  suffering  and  confined  situa 
tion.  A  large  proportion  of  those  who  are  shipped,  die  be- 


116  CONVERSATIONS    ON  SLAVERY. 


Africa  as  she  was. 


fore  they  have  crossed  the  ocean.  Many  also  die  soon  after 
completing  the  voyage,  from  what  is  called  "  the  seasoning;'* 
that  is,  in  becoming  acclimated  in  the  country  to  which  they 
are  carried.' 

'  Poor  Africans !  My  heart  bleeds  at  their  sufferings,' 
said  Caroline,  whose  eyes  now  suffused  with  tears ;  '  their 
home  was,  no  doubt,  a  "  sweet  home"  to  them — as  much 
to  them,  as  ours  is  to  us ;  and,  perhaps,  they  were  once  as 
happy.' 

'  It  is  said  that  when  the  slave-holders  first  visited  the 
western  coast  of  Africa,'  replied  Mr.  L.,  *  the  country  was 
most  delightful.  The  coast  was  covered  with  villages,  or 
thickly  settled  towns,  which  swarmed  with  inhabitants. 
Simple  in  their  manners,  amiable  in  their  dispositions,  in 
quiet  enjoyment  of  the  profuse  bounties  of  nature,  they  are 
represented  as  exceeding  happy.' 

'  They  were  not  civilized  ?'  interrupted  Henry. 

*  No,'  said  Mr.  L.,  *  they  were  not  civilized  according  to 
our  ideas  of  civilization ;  but  they  were  a  comparatively  in 
nocent,  unoffending,  contented,  happy  race.  It  was  not 
until  slave-dealers  introduced  among  them  every  thing  that 
could  please  the  fancy  and  awaken  the  cupidity  of  uncivilized 
men,  that  they  were  at  all  prone  to  interfere  with  each 
other's  happiness.  By  the  more  than  brutal  cruelty  of  white 
men,  quarrels  were  fomented,  tribe  was  set  against  tribe, 
and  each  supplied  with  the  means  of  mutual  destruction.' 

4  What  proportion,  Sir,  of  those  who  have  been  torn  away 
from  their  home,  are  supposed  to  have  died  on  the  passage, 
or  before  their  "  seasoning"  was  over?  There  must  have 
been  an  amazing  sacrifice  of  human  life  in  this  traffic  ?' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  117 

Extent  and  horrors  of  the  trade. 

'  Of  100,000  Africans  supposed  to  have  been  torn  away 
by  the  hand  of  violence  from  their  native  clime,  annually, 
one  third  are  supposed  to  have  died  on  the  passage  and  been 
consigned  to  a  watery  grave.'  Another  third  are  sup 
posed  to  have  died  from  "  the  seasoning,"  or  from  broken 
hearts.' 

'  So  then,  Henry,'  said  Caroline,  turning  to  her  brother, 
'dreadful  to  think!  upwards  of  60,000  out  of  the  100,000 
torn  away  from  Africa  every  year,  die  almost  immediately, 
in  consequence  of  hard  usage  and  the  change  of  climate  !' 

*  Yes,'  continued  Mr.  L.,  'more  than  60,000,  probably, 
die  every  year,  in  a  few  months  after  the  galling  chain  of 
slavery  is  fastened  upon  them.  Not  a  few  of  these,  as  I 
said  before,  die  of  broken  hearts — not  all  from  changes  of 
climate,  and  hard  usage. 

'  A  multitude  of  the  murdered  sons  of  Africa,  will,  ano 
ther  day,  appear  at  the  bar  of  eternal  justice,  to  witness 
against  their  cruel  murderers  !  From  depths  of  ocean  alone, 
a  vast  army  will  appear  when  the  sea  shall  give  up  its  dead, 
crying  for  vengeance  against  their  inhuman  destroyers ! 

'  It  would  be  very  easy  to  harrow  up  our  feelings  by  re 
ference  to  well-authenticated  facts  which  show  the  cruelties 
attending  the  trade.  If  it  were  not  already  late,  I  would  cite 
one  instance,  as  a  sample  of  the  estimation  in  which  human 
life  is  held  by  those  miserable  men  who  are  engaged  in  the 
trade.  As  it  is,  I  will  defer  it  until  to-morrow,' 


118  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Cruelties  of  the  slave-trade. 


CONVERSATION  XII. 


"Forth  sprang  the  ambush'd  ruffians  on  their  prey  ; 

They  caught,  they  hound,  they  drove  them  far  away  ; 

The  white  man  bought  them  at  the  mart  of  blood, 

In  pestilential  barks  they  cross'd  the  flood  ; 

Then  were  the  wretched  ones  asunder  torn, 

To  distant  isles,  to  separate  bondage  borne, 

Denied,  though  sought  with  tears,  the  sad  relief 

That  misery  loves — the  fellowship  of  grief." — Montgomery, 


THE  family  were  now  together,  and  Caroline,  having  just 
risen  from  a  short  recreation  upon  the  piano,  seeing  her  fa 
ther  at  leisure,  reminded  him  that  at  the  close  of  their  last 
evening's  conversation,  he  had  *  promised  to  give  them  in 
the  next  conversation,  facts  showing  the  recklessness  of 
slave-dealers  in  respect  to  the  lives  of  their  unhappy  cap 
tives.' 

'  The  case  to  which  I  designed  to  refer,  as  exemplifying 
the  estimate  in  which  the  lives  and  happiness  of  their  misera 
ble  victims  are  held,  by  the  still  more  wretched,  because 
guilty  beings,  who  bring  the  poor  Africans  from  their  native 
land,  to  suffer  in  chains,  and  then  to  toil  for  strangers,  and 
finally  to  die  in  bondage,  is  that  of  three  slave-vessels  cap 
tured  some  years  since  by  the  Dryad  frigate.  The  account 
which  appeared  in  the  English  papers  was  as  follows  : 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  110 

Extent  of  the  slave-trade  in  later  years. 

"  The  Fair  Rosamond  and  the  Black  Joke,  tenders  to 
the  Frigate  Dryad,  have  captured  three  slave  vessels,  which 
had  originally  1100  slaves  on  board,  but  of  which  they  suc 
ceeded  in  taking  only  306  to  Sierra  Leone.  It  appears  that 
the  Fair  Rosamond  had  captured  a  lugger  with  160  Africans, 
and  shortly  after  saw  the  Black  Joke  in  chase  of  two  other 
luggers.  She  joined  in  the  chase,  but  the  vessels  succeeded 
in  getting  into  the  Bonny  river,  and  landed  600  slaves  before 
the  tenders  could  take  possession  of  them.  They  found  on 
board  only  200,  but  ascertained  that  one  hundred  and  eighty 
slaves,  manacled  together,  had  been  thrown  overboard,  of 
whom  only  four  iv  ere  picked  up" 

'  0,  shocking !  a  day  of  retribution  surely  must  come  for 
such  hard-hearted  monsters,  such  murderous  fiends.  Why 
is  it  that  the  Christian  world  have  ever  tolerated  such  dreadful 
crimes,  such  worse  than  barbarous  cruelty  ?  It  must  be  that 
Africans  have  not  been  regarded  as  men ;  and  yet  I  should 
suppose  such  cruelties  would  hardly  be  practiced  towards 
mere  animals,  by  humane  persons.  Are  not  the  cruelties 
attending  the  slave-trade,  much  less  now  than  formerly  ?' 

'  It  is  said  they  are  as  great,  and  probably  greater  now  than 
they  have  been  at  any  former  period.  Obstacles  have  been 
thrown  in  the  way  of  the  traffic  by  the  planting  of  colonies 
on  the  coast,  and  the  vigilance  of  our  own  and  of  the  Eng 
lish  government  has  been  somewhat  increased,  in  order  to 
detect  and  capture  vessels  engaged  in  the  trade  ;  but  the 
slave-ships  are  numerous,  and  are  said  to  be  crowded  to  ex 
cess,  and  the  mortality  is  dreadful.  In  1824,  120,000  was 
ascertained  to  be  about  the  number  exported  from  the  coast 
of  Africa  that  year,  and  a  list  of  the  names  of  218  vessels, 
believed  to  be  engaged  in  the  traffic,  was  given.  In  the  year 
1827,  no  less  than  125  vessels  sailed  to  Africa  for  slaves, 


120  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

First  cost  of  slaves. — Domestic  distress. 

from  Cuba  alone.  Previous  to  the  establishment  of  the  co 
lony  at  Liberia,  2,000  slaves  were  exported  annually  from 
the  single  points  of  Cape  Mount  and  Montserado.' 

1  Do  you  know,  Pa,'  Henry  inquired,  '  what  is  the  average 
cost  of  slaves  in  Africa,  to  those  who  engage  in  the  trade  ?' 

*  The  prime  cost  of  the  miserable  victims  enslaved  on  the 
shores  of  Africa,  and  sold  in  Havana  for  between  two  and 
four  and  six  hundred  dollars  each,  is,  I  think,  to  those  who 
engage  in  the  traffic  on  the   coast  of  Africa,  a  little  more 
than  one  dollar  "  a  log!'1''  as  is  expressed  in  the  inhuman 
jargon  of  the  slaver,  a  log  meaning  a  human  body.' 

*  My  mind,'  Caroline  here  remarked,  '  is  continually  re 
verting  to  the  awful  scenes  of  the  first  apprehension  of  the 
poor  African,  and  of  his  adieu  to  his  native  land.' 

Mr.  L.  thought  that  'it  would  be  impossible  for  our  live 
liest  conceptions  to  portray  the  feelings  of  the  poor  slaves 
at  those  moments,  or  to  tell  the  awful  amount  of  that  load  of 
grief  which  continues  for  a  long  time  to  weigh  down  their 
hearts.  We  may  imagine  them  turning  their  weeping  eyes 
towards  their  native  shores,  at  their  departure,  and  associate 
with  that  last  lingering  look  thoughts  that  overwhelm  the 
mind ;  we  may  think  of  the  unutterable  desolation  of  the 
fond  father  or  mother  torn  from  the  children  of  their  love ; 
the  feelings  of  children  forced  away  from  their  parents  into 
hopeless  exile  ;  the  pangs  of  separation  between  husbands 
and  wives  no  more  to  meet  this  side  the  grave  ;  but  we  have 
only  a  very  inadequate  idea  after  all  of  the  bitterness  of  that 
cup  of  wo  which  they  have  to  drink  to  the  very  dregs  !  It 
is  difficult  for  us  to  bring  such  scenes,  and  such  griefs,  to  our 
own  doors  and  bosoms,  and  measure  the  sufferings  of  others 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  121 

Affecting  case  of  an  African  Chief. 

by  what  would  be  our  own,  placed  in  a  similar  condition. 
We  are  so  accustomed  to  think  disparagingly  of  the  blacks, 
that  our  sympathy  does  not  expand  on  this  subject  as  on  oc 
casions  where  there  is  actually  less  to  move  our  feelings. 
We  have  acquired  a  habit  of  looking  upon  Africans  as  not 
susceptible  of  like  emotions  with  ourselves,  and  when  their 
miseries  are  the  theme,  there  is  comparative  indifference. 
We  associate  with  the  black  skin  a  want  of  sensibility  which 
observation  and  facts  will  by  no  means  justify. 

"  Fleecy  locks  and  black  complexion 

Cannot  forfeit  nature's  claim  ; 
Skins  may  differ,  but  affection 

Dwells  in  white  and  black  the  same.'' 

*  You  recollect,  probably,  the  affecting  case  of  the  African 
chief  captured  and  brought  in  chains  to  the  Rio  Pongas  for 
for  sale,  some  years  ago  ?  He  was  brother  of  Yaradee,  the 
king  of  the  Solima  nation.  His  noble  figure,  and  daring 
eye,  and  commanding  front,  bespoke  a  mind  which  knew  no 
alternative,  save  freedom  or  ruin.  He  was  exhibited  for  sale 
like  a  beast,  in  the  market  place,  still  adorned  with  ornaments 
of  massy  gold,  as  in  the  days  of  his  glory.  The  tyrant 
who  had  seized  and  bound  him,  and  now  offered  him  for 
sale,  demanded  an  enormous  price  of  the  chief  or  of  his 
friends,  as  the  condition  of  his  being  released,  rather  than 
sent  in  bondage  to  a  far  country.  The  warrior  offered  large 
sums  for  his  redemption,  but  his  owner  refused  to  listen  to 
the  proposals.  At  length,  distracted  by  the  very  thought 
of  his  degradation,  tears  stole  from  those  eyes  that  never 
wept  before,  and  he  entreated  those  around  him  to  cut  his 
hair,  which  had  long  been  permitted  to  grow,  and  which  was 
platted  with  peculiar  care,  in  which  wedges  of  gold  were 
concealed ;  and  these  treasures  he  laid  at  the  feet  of  his 
keeper  to  obtain  a  ransom.  All,  however,  was  in  vain. 


122  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  African  Chieftain. 

The  wretch  who  held  him  was  inexorable.  He  gave  the 
chief  to  understand  that  he  should  take  care  of  the  gold,  and 
get  as  much  gold  for  him  as  he  could  besides.  Dark  despair 
settling  upon  the  soul  of  the  noble  captive,  "  then  burst  his 
mighty  heart."  In  a  moment,  as  if  by  an  instant  stroke 
from  on  high,  his  faculties  were  shattered.  Unable  to  sus 
tain  himself  under  the  workings  of  his  wounded  spirit,  he  be 
came  a  furious  maniac  ;  and  then  suddenly  withered  and  pe 
rished  !  He  had  never  trembled  in  fields  of  blood  and  death ; 
but  he  could  not  endure  the  thought  of  servitude  and 
chains/ 

4 1  recollect  the  story,'  said  Henry,  « and  I  recollect  some 
lines  which  appeared  soon  after  the  occurrence,  entitled 

THE   AFRICAN  CHIEFTAIN. 

"  And  must  this  mighty  spirit  yield, 
This  robust  frame  give  up  its  breath, 
Not  nobly  on  the  bloody  Held 
Where  valour  sinks  in  death  ? 
But  bound  with  an  inglorious  chain, 
The  scorn  of  every  coward  slave? 
The  thought  is  madness — I  disdain 
To  die  but  with  the  brave. 


Break!  break  these  fetters!  and  I'll  bring 
A  precious  treasure  to  your  hand — 
Know,  I'm  the  brother  of  a  king 
Who  rules  a  golden  land. 
These  massy  rings  assert  my  fame, 
I've  wealth  concealed  within  my  hair — 
More  shall  be  yours,  if  more  you  claim, 
But  save  me  from  despair  ! 

Thus  spoke  the  Chieftain,  and  the  tear 
Stole  silent  down  his  manly  face  ; 
IVot  death,  not  death,  he  cried,  I  fear— 
I  fear  but  this  disgrace ! 


ftil 

CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLA 


fti 

VERY. 


The  African  Chieftain. 


Bold  mountains  of  my  native  land, 
I'm  lost — nor  ever  more  shall  Bee 
Those  rugged  heights,  that  daring  stand, 
And  say  we  shall  be  free. 

O  give  me  drink,  my  hopes  are  dead, 
In  merey  break  this  cursed  chain ; 
Act  like  the  lion,  take  my  head, 
But  not  prolong  my  pain. 
Souls  of  the  mighty  Chiefs,  whose  blood 
Flow'd  freely  on  that  dreadful  day, 
Vou  saw  my  deeds,  how  firm  I  stood, 
Take,  take  this  chain  away." 

« The  memory  of  the  incident  has  been  preserved  in  my 
mind,'  said  C.,  *  by  some  elegant  and  pathetic  stanzas  from 
the  pen  of  William  Cullen  Bryant.  As  we  happen  to  be  in 
the  vein  of  poetry  now,  and  as  Mr.  Bryant's  admirable  ge 
nius  for  poetry  is  acknowledged  both  in  our  own  country 
and  in  Europe,  I  will  repeat,  in  my  turn,  a  few  lines,  with 
your  permission,  Pa?' 

*  Certainly  :  Mr.  Bryant's  poetry  is  always  good.' 

THE   AFRICAN   CHIEF. 

"  Chain'd  in  the  market-place  he  stood, 

A  tnan  of  giant  frame, 
Amid  the  gathering  multitude 

That  shrunk  to  hear  his  name. 
All  stern  of  look  and  strong  of  limb, 

His  dark  eye  on  the  ground; 
And  silently  they  gazed  on  him, 

As  on  a  lion  bound. 

Vainly  but  well  the  chief  had  fought 

He  was  a  captive  now, 
Vet  pride,  that  fortune  humbles  not. 

Was  written  on  his  brow ; 
The  scars  his  dark,  broad  bosom  wore, 

Show'd  warrior  true  and  brave : 
A  prince  among  his  tribe  before, 

He  could  not  be  a  slave. 


124  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

The  African  Chieftain. 

Then  to  his  conqueror  he  spake — 

"  My  brother  is  a  king ; 
Undo  this  necklace  from  my  neck, 

And  take  this  bracelet  ring, 
And  send  me  where  my  brother  reigns, 

And  I  will  fill  thy  hands 
W  ith  stores  of  ivory  from  the  plains, 

And  gold  dust  from  the  sands." 

"•  Not  for  thy  ivory  or  thy  gold 

Will  I  unbind  thy  chain  ; 
That  bloody  hand  shall  never  hold 

The  battle  spear  again, 
A  price  thy  nation  never  gave 

Shall  yet  be  paid  for  thee  j 
For  thou  shall  be  the  Christian's!  stave, 

In  land  beyond  the  sea." 

Then  wept  the  warrior  chief,  and  bade 

To  shred  his  locks  away  ; 
And  one  by  one,  each  heavy  braid 

Before  the  victor  lay. 
Thick  were  the  plaited  locks,  and  long, 

And  deftly  hidden  there, 
Shone  many  a  wedge  of  gold  among 

The  dark  and  crisped  hair. 

"  Look  !  feast  thy  greedy  eye  with  gold 

Long  kept  for  sorest  need, 
Take  it— thou  askest  sums  untold — 

And  say  thatl  am  freed  : 
Take  it — my  wife,  the  long,  long  day 

Weeps  by  the  cocoa  tree, 
And  my  young  children  leave  their  play, 

And  ask  in  vain  for  me." 

"I  take  thy  gold — but  I  have  made 

Thy  fetters  fast  and  strong; 
And  ween  that  by  the  cocoa  shade, 

Thy  wife  shalt  wait  thee  long." 
Strong  was  the  agony  that  shook 

The  captive's  frame  to  hear, 
And  the  proud  meaning  of  his  look 

Was  changed  to  mortal  fear. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  125- 

The  African  Chieftain. 

His  heart  was  broken — crazed  his  brain — 

At  once  his  eye  grew  wild, 
He  struggled  fiercely  with  his  chain, 

Whisper'd,  and  wept,  and  smil'd  ,- 
Yet  wore  not  long  those  fatal  bands ; 

And  once  at  shut  of  day, 
They  drew  him  forth  upon  the  sands, 

The  foul  Hyena's  prey." 


K2 


126  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Measures  in  British  Parliament. 


CONVERSATION  XIII. 


"  I  pass  with  haste  by  the  coast  of  Africa,  whence  ray  mind  turns  with 
indignation  at  the  abominable  traffic  in  the  human  species,  from  which  a  part 
of  our  countrymen  dare  to  derive  their  most  inauspicious  wealth." 

Sir  William  Jones. 


'  AGAIN  we  will  turn  our  attention,  for  a  short  time,  if  you 
please,  my  dear  children,  to  the  slave-trade.' 

'  Has  not  public  opinion  undergone  a  very  great  change, 
Pa,  in  regard  to  the  slave-trade  within  a  few  years  ?'  inquir 
ed  Caroline. 

'  The  change  has  been  great,  indeed,'  said  Mr.  L.  '  Once 
there  were  hardly  a  few  to  be  found  to  make  any  effort 
whatever  for  Africa's  relief.  She  was  bleeding  at  every 
pore,  but  none  commiserated  her  distress.  She  saw  and 
there  was  none  to  help — she  looked,  and  there  was  none  to 
drop  even  the  tear  of  pity  over  her  miseries.  Public  opin 
ion  has  been  changing  silently  but  rapidly  in  Great  Britain 
and  America  for  many  years.  Every  passing  year,  the  re 
volution  in  sentiment,  has  been  more  and  more  apparent. 

'In  1776,  whilst  the  sensibilities  of  the  public  were  much 
excited  by  the  fact  that  132  living  slaves  had  been  thrown 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  127 

Abolition  of  the  trade  by  the  Congress  of  the  U.  S.  and  other  nations. 


overboard  from  a  vessel  engaged  in  the  trade,  DAVID  HART 
LEY,  a  member  of  the  British  Parliament,  laid  upon  the 
table  of  the  House  of  Commons,  fetters  that  had  been  used 
in  confining  the  unhappy  victims  of  this  traffic  on  board  of 
slave-ships,  and  moved  a  Resolution,  "  That  the  trade  [was] 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and  the  rights  of  man." 

'  In  1787,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  fixed  a 
period  for  the  abolition  of  the  trade,  which  by  act  of  Con 
gress  became  a  law  in  1808,  prohibiting  the  farther  introduc 
tion  of  slaves  into  the  States. 

'In  1807,  Wilberforce  made  his  first  motion  in  Parlia 
ment  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade,  which  motion  was 
renewed  annually  in  Parliament  for  twenty  years,  until  at 
length  it  was  enacted  that  after  March,  1808,  no  slaves 
should  be  imported  into  the  British  dominions. 

'  On  the  2d  day  of  March,  1807,  an  act  was  passed  by 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  the  first  section  of  which 
enacts,  "That  after  the  first  day  of  January,  1808,  it  shall 
not  be  lawful  to  import  or  bring  into  the  United  States,  or 
the  territories  thereof,  from  any  foreign  kingdom,  place,  or 
country,  any  negro,  mulatto,  or  person  of  colour,  with  in 
tent  to  hold,  sell  or  dispose  of  such  negro,  mulatto,  or 
person  of  colour,  as  a  slave,  or  to  be  sold  at  service  or 
labour." 

'  At  length,  the  Dutch,  the  Spanish,  the  Portuguese,  and 
the  Brazilians  made  enactments  against  the  traffic.  France 
also  denounced  it,  and  Austria  declared  that  the  moment  a 
slave  touches  an  Austrian  ship,  he  is  free.  At  the  Con 
gress  of  Vienna  in  1815,  the  sovereigns  there  present,  and 
the  States  represented,  pledged  themselves  to  the  suppres 
sion  of  the  trade.  And  on  the  23d  of  March,  1830,  the 
prosecution  of  the  slave-trade  ceased  to  be  lawful  for  the 
citizens  or  subjects  of  any  Christian  power  in  Europe  or 
America. 


128  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  iradenot  materially  suppressed. 

'The  late  universal  emancipation  of  slaves  by  the  British 
government  in  their  West  India  colonies,  which  took  effect, 
August  1,  1834,  is  another  most  important  step  in  the  de 
velopment  of  a  right  feeling  in  relation  to  this  subject,  and 
I  cannot  but  hope,  notwithstanding  all  unfavourable  circum 
stances,  that  a  very  few  years  will  have  brought  to  pass  all 
that  we  would  claim  of  freedom,  for  slaves  every  where,  and 
for  the  continent  of  Africa.' 

'But  if  I  have  understood  you,  Pa,  you  have  said  that 
the  slave-trade  is  yet  carried  on  extensively  ?' 

'  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  it  is,  Caroline,  notwithstanding 
the  obligations  of  laws  and  treaties  to  the  contrary. 

'  When  the  United  States,  in  connexion  with  England, 
declared  the  slave-trade  to  be  piracy,  and  forbade  the  further 
introduction  of  slaves  into  their  possessions,  the  friends  of 
humanity  indulged  the  hope  that  a  death-blow  was  about  to 
be  given  to  the  traffic.  Other  nations,  by  important  mea 
sures,  encouraged  the  hope.  The  event,  however,  has 
caused  great  disappointment.  I  have  before  stated  some  of 
the  slavery  statistics,  showing  the  state  of  the  trade  in  1824, 
and  in  1827.  From  a  document  which  I  have  seen,  it  also 
appears  that  from  1820  to  1831,  no  less  than  322,526 
slaves  were  imported  into  the  single  port  of  Rio  Janeiro 
alone.  By  very  recent  documents,  it  appears  that  the  abo 
minable  traffic  is  still  carried  on  to  a  considerable  extent  in 
Brazil.  The  fact  that  the  trade  is  now  generally  denounced, 
and  declared  illegal,  and  although  it  be  declared  by  every 
Christian  government  piratical,  will  not  alone  be  sufficient  to 
destroy,  or  even  materially  to  lessen  the  trade. 

'  Armed  vessels  may  be  sent  to  cruise  off  the  coast,  as 
they  now  do,  to  capture  the  slave-ships  ;  but  experience 
proves  that  no  squadron  will  be  likely  effectually  to  prevent 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY*  129 

Something  more  must  be  done. 

the  trade,  without  the  aid  of  settlements  of  civilized  and 
christianized  communities  along  the  coast.  Thousands  of 
little  rivers,  and  bays,  that  indent  the  shores  of  Africa, 
either  refuse  to  admit  our  ships  into  their  shallow  waters, 
whilst  they  afford  lurking  and  hiding  places  for  those  con 
cerned  in  the  traffic  and  well  acquainted  with  the  geography 
of  the  country,  or  enable  the  slaver  being  pursued,  to  elude 
the  search.  Tf  any  one  factory,  mart,  or  haunt,  be  broken 
up,  word  is  immediately  sent  by  the  traders  into  the  country, 
that  slaves  must  be  brought  to  some  less  frequented  and  un 
suspected  part  of  the  coast  which  is  designated,  and  there 
they  are  received  with  impunity,  the  traders  with  their  ves 
sels  lying  concealed  perhaps  under  the  woody  banks  of  un 
known  winding  streams. 

*  It  has  been  supposed,  therefore,  that  colonies  established 
along  the  coast  are  indispensable  to  the  entire  extinction  of 
the  trade.     Twenty  or  thirty  colonies  scattered  along  the 
coast,  it  is  said,  would  put  an  end  to  the  trade  effectually 
and  for  ever.     The  native  chiefs  of  Sherbro  district,  through 
a  strong  desire  to  be  shielded  from  the  ravages  of  the  slave- 
trade,  presented  one  hundred  miles  of  coast,  southward  of 
Sierra  Leone,  to  the  colony ;  and  it  is   stated  that  all  the 
coast  in  the  vicinity  of  that  place  is  now  cleared  of  slave- 
factories  and  slave-vessels.     Several  native  chiefs  in  the  vi 
cinity  of  the  Liberian  colony  have  desired  arrangements  to 
be  entered  into  with  them  for  the  security  of  that  part  of  the 
coast,  and  are  hoping  for  as  favourable  results.     The  New- 
York  and  Pennsylvania  colony  at  Bassa  Cove,  it  is  antici 
pated,  will   be   an    efficient  coadjutor  with   those    already 
named,  in  extending  a  Christian  influence  in  Africa,  and  in 
hastening  the  day  when  the  traffic  in  human  flesh  and  blood 
will  end.' 

*  What  is  there,  then,  Sir,  to  prevent  the  formation  of  co- 


130 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Colonies  along  the  coast  npcessary. 


lonies  like  those  that  now  exist,  along  the  whole  coast?  It 
would,  I  suppose,  be  a  great  work — but  is  it  not  worthy  of 
great  effort  ?' 

*  Many  are  hoping  and  praying  and  labouring  for  such  a 
result,  Caroline.     I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  this  sub 
ject  again  in  a  future  conversation.     It  will   be   consistent 
with  the  plan  which  I  have  proposed  for  these  conversations, 
to  turn  our  attention  now  again  to  the  evils  of  slavery  as  it 
exists  in  our  own  country. 

*  We  have  seen  how  slavery  was  introduced  here,  at  an 
unfavourable  moment,  the  planters  consulting  their  imme 
diate  profit  and  regardless  of  future  consequences  and  so  fall 
ing  in  with  the  policy  of  England,   and  how  slavery  was 
still  forced  on  these  colonies  in  spite  of  remonstrance,  the 
final  welfare  of  America  being  an  object  of  minor  impor 
tance  compared  with  the  increase  of  the  commerce  of  the 
mother  country,  and  the  immediate  supply  of  the  English 
treasury. 

*  In  1772,  the  Assembly  of  Virginia  went  so  far  as  to  set 
forth,   in  a  respectful  petition  to  his    Majesty,  the  King  of 
Great  Britain,  the  inhumanity  of  the  slave-trade,  and  to  sug 
gest  that  it  might  "  endanger  the  very  existence  of  his  Ame 
rican  dominions."     This   warning  is  the  more  remarkable, 
inasmuch  as  it  came  from  the  first  colony  the  English  ever 
had   in  America,  and  one  already  involved  in  the  evils  of 
slavery  ;  and  it  was  yet  more   remarkable  in  the  event — for 
the  American  colonies   existed  a  very  little   time  after  that 
warning,   a   part   of  the    dominions   of  the    monarch   who 
would  not  deign  even  an   answer  to   the  petitioners.     The 
warning  were  prophetic,  if  we  might  judge  alone  from  the 
event.' 

4  Virginia,  I  have  seen  it  suggested  by  one  of  her  orators, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  131 

Virginia's  early  efforts  against  slavery. 

'*  prides  herself"  that  she  has  ever  pursued  the  same  course 
in  relation  to  this  matter,'  said  Henry. 

'  Virginia  certainly  deserves  credit.  During  her  colonial 
existence,  when  it  was  the  determined  policy  of  England  to 
introduce  as  many  slaves  as  possible  into  Virginia,  her 
House  of  Burgesses  passed  no  less  than  twenty-three  acts 
tending  to  suppress  the  horrible  traffic  in  slaves ;  all  which 
acts  were  negatived  by  the  king ! 

'  In  the  original  draft  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
one  of  her  most  gifted  sons,  Mr.  Jefferson,  inserted  a  heart- 
stirring  passage,  charging  the  conduct  of  the  king  in  putting 
his  veto  on  these  enactments  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave-trade,  as  a  crime,  aggravated  by  Lord  Dunmore's  en 
deavouring  to  stir  up  the  slaves  in  the  colonies  against  us. 
This  clause  was  stricken  out  finally,  because  it  was  ascertain 
ed  that  it  could  not  obtain  the  assent  of  all  the  States. 

*  In  1778,  as  soon  as  Virginia  found  herself  in  a  situation 
to  do  it,  although  in  the  midst  of  a  civil  war,  she  made  the 
African  slave-trade  punishable  by  death.  And  it  was  at  her 
instance  also  that  the  act  of  Congress  was  passed,  declaring 
it  piracy,  subjecting  the  offender  to  capture  and  punishment 
in  any  court  of  any  nation  which  should  pass  the  same  law. 
So  far  has  Virginia  the  merit  of  having  maintained  her 
claims  to  "  the  noble,  the  humane,  and  the  adventurous  for 
the  right."  Nor  does  she  now  fall  behind  any  State  in  the 
Union  in  her  professed  abhorrence  of  slavery,  and  in  a  pro 
fessed  and  apparent  desire  to  see  the  country  free  from  slave 
ry's  stain.  Virginia,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  South, 
sees,  or  thinks  she  sees  difficulties  in  the  way  of  immediate 
and  universal  emancipation,  which  we  in  the  non-slave-hoid- 
ing  States,  do  not,  all  of  us,  appreciate ;  but  we  can  hardly 
avoid  giving  her  credit  for  uniformity  of  practice,  honesty  of 


132  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Other  States  followed  Virginia's  example. 

purpose,   and  a  true  desire  to   see  slavery  extinct  in  our 
land. 

1  It  was  the  movements  of  Virginia  in  the  correspondence 
which  she  authorized  between  her  Governor,  (since  Presi 
dent  Monroe,)  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  then  President  of  the 
United  States,  a  copy  of  which  is  before  me,  attested  by 
William  Wirt,  then  clerk  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Dele 
gates,  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  American  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  and  to  the  founding  of  civilized  and  Christian 
colonies  in  Africa/ 

*  Did  none  of  the  other  States,  at  an  early  period,  adopt 
measures  in  relation  to  this  subject?' 

'  Yes,  Henry,  Virginia  was  earliest  in  setting  the  example 
for  the  exclusion  of  imported  slaves  ;  but  a  duty  on  the  im 
portation  of  slaves  was  laid  by  New-York,  in  1753 ;  by 
Pennsylvania,  in  1762  ;  and  by  New-Jersey,  in  1769. 

1  In  1780,  Pennsylvania;  passed  a  law  for  the  gradual  abo 
lition  of  slavery,  which  has  the  merit  of  being  the  earliest 
legislative  proceeding  of  the  kind  in  any  country.  All  the 
States  north  and  east  of  Maryland,  have  since  passed  similar 
laws. 

1  At  a  very  early  period,  the  free-holders  and  inhabitants  of 
the  counties  of  Somerset  and  Essex,  in  New-Jersey,  pre 
sented  similar  petitions  to  that  of  Virginia  in  1772,  to  the 
Governor,  Council,  and  Representatives  of  the  Province, 
against  the  slave-trade.  The  inhabitants  of  the  city  and 
county  of  Philadelphia  also  petitioned  their  Assembly  against 
the  slave-trade,  citing  the  example  set  them  by  the  Province 
of  Virginia,  in  petitioning  the  king  "  from  a  deep  sensibility 
of  the  danger  and  pernicious  consequences  which  would  be 
attendent  on  a  continuation  of  the  iniquitous  traffic.". 

*  On  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  Congress 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  133 

England  has  abolished  slavery. — Claims  more  honour  than  is  due. 

was  authorized  to  prohibit,  at  the  end  of  twenty  years,  the 
importation  of  slaves  into  any  part  of  the  United  States ; 
which  power  was  exercised  at  the  appointed  time.7 

4  No  slaves,  then,  have  been  legally  brought  into  the 
United  States  since  the  year  1808  ?'  said  Caroline.  « I  wish 
Congress  had  felt  authorized  to  go  one  step  further,  and 
had  fixed  a  time  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  our  land. 
We  should  not  then  be  the  reproach  of  the  nations.  Eng 
land  especially,  I  notice,  is  severe  in  her  allusions.' 

'  England,'  Mr.  L.  remarked,  '  has  of  late  appeared  dis 
posed  to  do  what  she  can  to  retrace  the  wrongs  she  has  oc 
casioned  in  her  West  India  colonies.  It  were  well  if  she 
could  undo  all  the  evil  she  has  done.  It  has  always  been 
easy  for  her  to  make  enactments  in  relation  to  her  distant 
colonies  ;  but  I  fear  that  placed  in  precisely  the  situation  in 
which  by  her  reckless  avarice  she  has  involved  us,  the  poor 
slaves  might  find  as  tardy  justice  at  her  hands  as  she  charges 
upon  us.  '  Legislation  for  the  government  of  others,  is  des 
patched  sooner  and  with  much  less  difficulty,  than  when  the 
enactments  are  to  call  for  sacrifices  on  our  own  part.  But 
Britain  should  neither  be  reproached  in  this  matter,  nor 
utter  reproaches  against  others.  Reproach  uttered  by  her 
against  this  country,  comes  from  her,  surely,  with  peculiar 
ill  grace.  She  has  done  well,  I  hope  it  will  be  found,  both 
for  Africans  and  for  her  West  India  colonies  in  directing 
emancipation.  We  will  commend  her  for  the  good  done, 
and  pray  that  all  her  influence  may  favour  the  cause  of  Af 
rica  for  the  time  to  come.  Her  example,  it  may  also  be 
hoped,  will  influence  us  to  love  and  good  works.  Let  her 
remember,  however,  that  it  becomes  her  to  be  very  sparing 
of  reproaches  in  her  allusions  to  us.' 

Caroline  here  said  she  would  acknowledge  that  her  pa 
triotism  tempted  her  to  covet  for  her  country,  the  honour 


134  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

England's  example. 

which  England  enjoys  of  being  first  in  the  work  of  univer 
sal  emancipation,  notwithstanding  these  reproaches. 

4  That  is  intended  as  a  cutting  remark,  Caroline,'  said 
Henry, '  which  we  were  noticing  this  morning,  from  the  pen 
of  Mr.  C.  Stewart,  who,  I  believe,  is  an  Englishman: — 
"  Shall  the  United  States — the  free  United  States,  which  could 
not  bear  the  bonds  of  a  king,  cradle  the  bondage  which  a  king 
is  abolishing?  Shall  a  Republic  be  less  free  than  a  Monarchy  ? 
Shall  we,  in  the  vigour  and  buoyancy  of  our  manhood,  be 
less  energetic  in  righteousness,  than  a  kingdom  in  its  age  ?"  ' 

*  There  is  much  point  too  in  those  lines  of  Whittier,' 
said  Caroline  : 

"  Shall  every  flap  of  England's  flag 

Proclaim  that  all  around  are  free, 
From  '  farthest  Ind'  to  each  blue  crag 

That  beetles  o'er  the  Western  Sea  ? 
And  shall  we  scoff  at  Europe's  kings, 

When  Freedom's  fire  is  dim  with  us, 
And  round  our  country's  altar  clings 

The  damning  shade  of  Slavery's  curse? 

Go— let  us  ask  of  Constantino 

To  loose  his  grasp  on  Poland's  throat— 
And  beg  the  lord  of  Mahmoud's  line 

To  spare  the  struggling  Suliote. 
Will  not  the  scorching  answer  come 

From  turbaned  Turk  and  fiery  Russ — 
'  Go,  loose  your  fettered  slaves  at  home, 

Then  turn  and  ask  the  like  of  us  ?'  " 

Mr.  L.  thought  we  should  take  an  enlightened  view  of  the 
subject,  and  not  be  too  much  influenced  by  the  sound  of 
words,  whilst  regardless  of  the  real  facts  and  circumstances 
of  the  case  ;  but,  feeling  fatigued,  proposed  they  should  now 
defer  the  conversation  until  to-morrow ;  and,  said  he,  as  the 
bell  rung  for  the  domestics  to  come  in  to  evening  prayers, 
1  we  will  remember  Africa,  and  remember  our  country  too,  in 
our  devotions.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  135 

The  government  of  the  U.  S.  cannot  legislate  for  individual  States. 


CONVERSATION  XIV. 


*'  We  have  found  that  this  evil  has  preyed  upon  the  very  vitals  of  the  Union* 
and  has  been  prejudicial  to  all  the  States  in  which  it  has  existed." 

James  Monroe. 


1  WELL,  Caroline  and  Henry,  I  have  another  hour  for  Afri 
ca — and  if  you  please,  we  will  resume  the  subject  of  our 


Both  responded  at  once,  «  With  pleasure,  Pa.' 

*  Is  it  not  generally  supposed,  Pa,'  Henry  inquired,  '  that 
the  United  States,  as  a  nation,  cannot  in  good  faith  interfere 
with  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  several  States  where 
slavery  exists  ?' 

*  I  believe  that  it  is  generally  agreed  among  statesmen,' 
said  Mr.  L.,  '  that  the  time  and  manner  of  abolishing  slave 
ry  within  the  limits  of  individual  states,  must  be  left  to  their 
own  voluntary  deliberations.     The  federal  government,  it  is 
conceded,  has  no  control  over  this  subject:  it  concerns  rights 
of  property  secured  by  the  federal  compact,  upon  which  our 
liberties  mainly  depend.     It  is  a  part  of  the  collection  of  po 
litical  rights,  the  least  invasion  of  any  one  of  which  would, 
of  course,  impair  the  tenure  by  which  every  other  is  held. 
An  unconstitutional  interference  would,  therefore,  be  most 
disastrous  in  its  results. 


136  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Rights  guaranteed  by  the  constitution. 

*  When  the  federal  compact  was  formed,  the  entire  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  was  a  favourite  object  with  many  ;  but  they 
knew  that  this  point,  or  the  Union,  must  be  surrendered.  As 
much  as  they  loved  liberty,  and  as  ardently  as  they  condemn 
ed  personal  slavery,  they  had  no  other  alternative  but  to 
leave  it  as  they  found  it,  existing  at  the  South,  or  fail  of 
the  great  desideratum  of  an  union  of  the  States.  A  com 
promise  was  therefore  effected.  The  South  conceded  that  in 
twenty  years  the  slave-trade  should  be  abolished ;  and  the 
North  conceded  that  the  CONSTITUTION  should  secure  to  the 
South  a  representation  in  Congress  of  three-fifths  of  their 
slave  population,  and  that  each  State  should  be  bound  to  sur 
render  to  the  citizens  of  other  States  such  fugitive  slaves  as 
should  be  found  within  their  limits.  In  addition  to  which,  it 
was  provided  that  the  United  States  shall  interpose,  on  re 
quisition  of  either  of  the  States,  to  protect  its  citizens  against 
domestic  violence.  These  principles  are  fully  recognized 
by  the  constitution,  and  as  good  citizens,  we  are  bound  to  re 
spect  them,  so  long  as  they  remain  a  part  of  the  constitu 
tion. 

'In  the  amendments  to  the  constitution,  the  effect  of  these 
provisions  is  confirmed,  by  the  declaration  that  all  powers 
not  conceded  to  the  United  States,  nor  prohibited  to  either  of 
the  States,  by  the  constitution,  remain  in  the  separate  States. 
Hence,  it  is  inferred,  that  as  the  constitution  gives  no  control 
on  this  subject,  the  regulation  of  domestic  slavery,  which 
was  the  exclusive  right  of  the  Southern  States  before  the 
constitution,  remains  with  them,  as  one  of  the  powers  not 
transferred  to  the  United  States.  The  legal  construction  is, 
therefore,  that  the  South  who  hold  slaves,  retain  the  right  of 
exclusive  regulation  over  them,  which  right  the  United  States 
cannot  touch. 

« The  constitution,  as  it  now  stands,  renders  it  as  improper, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  137 

A  dissolution  of  the  Union  would  follow  an  infringement  of  the  constitution. 

it  is  contended,  and  as  unavailing,  for  the  non-slave-holding 
States  to  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  regulations  of  the 
Southern  States  touching  their  slaves,  as  it  would  be  for  us 
to  attempt  to  regulate  the  arrangements  of  the  British  House 
of  Commons,  or  the  doings  of  the  French  Chambers.  And 
if  the  United  States  cannot,  under  the  constitution,  interfere 
with  the  regulations  of  slavery  at  the  South,  still  less  can. 
any  single  State  do  so. 

4  This  is,  I  believe,  a  fair  state  of  the  case,  nearly  in  the 
precise  language  which  has  been  sometimes  employed  by 
distinguished  civilians  on  the  question  of  State  rights/ 

*  May  not  the  constitution  be  amended?* 

1  It  may ;  but  an  amendment  in  this  matter,  would,  doubt 
less,  result  in  a  separation  of  the  States.  We,  then,  have 
no  means  of  reaching  the  evil  we  propose  to  remedy.  The 
South  will  become  to  us  a  foreign  government,  and  we 
shall  have  no  means  of  influencing  the  Southern  States  in 
regard  to  their  slave  population,  more  than  we  now  have  of 
influencing  legislation  on  this  subject  in  the  island  of  Cuba. 
The  question,  therefore,  seems  to  be,  shall  we  have  a  union 
of  States,  or  shall  we  shipwreck  the  whole  on  the  question 
of  slavery  ? 

'  Many  suppose  that,  in  this  dilemma,  we  should  exercise  a 
spirit  of  forbearance,  and  do  as  our  patriotic  forefathers  did 
in  their  determination  of  the  same  question.  And  they  are 
encouraged  to  assume  this  position  from  the  well  known  fact 
that  there  is  an  increasing  disposition  at  the  South  to  be  rid 
of  the  evil  of  slavery,  and  because  they  hope  that  the  time 
is  very  near  when  there  will  be  some  happy,  united,  harmo 
nious  and  final  movement  on  this  subject.  Many  also  be 
lieve  that  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  North  to  interfere 
ki  this  matter,  has  been  the  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  ai 


138  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

District  of  Columbia. 

general  movement  in  the  South,  and  most  injurious  to  the 
slave,  whose  condition  it  is  the  object  of  such  interference  to 
improve.' 

4  As  Congress  have  control  over  the  District  of  Columbia, 
I  see  not  why  slavery  may  not  be  abolished  there* 

*  The  United  States,  it  is  true,  may  enact  such  laws  as  may 
seem  expedient  for  the  government  of  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia.  Many  regard  it  as  a  dark  reproach  upon  our  nation 
that,  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  the  slave-trade  is 
permitted  to  be  carried  on  there.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
District  of  Columbia  is  "  the  principal  mart  of  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  Union,"  and  that  the  public  prisons  of  the 
District,  are  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  slave-traders,  "  slaves 
being  confined  in  their  cells  for  safe-keeping,  until  the 
drove,  or  cargo,  of  human  beings  can  be  completed !" 
But  even  this  reproach,  which  has  been  declared  on  the 
floor  of  Congress,  by  a  distinguished  Representative  from 
New-York,  "unchristian,  unholy,  and  unjust;  not  warrant 
ed  by  the  laws  of  God,  and  contrary  to  the  assertion  in 
our  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  *  all  men  are  created 
equal,'  "  others  contend  is  perpetuated  by  injudicious  move 
ments,  which  make  the  question  of  slavery  so  deeply  ex 
citing,  that  the  matter  cannot  at  present  be  discussed  with 
the  desired  success,  and  with  safety  to  the  Union,  or  benefit 
to  the  slave.' 

'But,  Pa,'  said  H.,  'we  cannot  but  be  interested,  deeply 
interested  in  the  subject,  although  it  is  a  question  that  affects 
the  South,  more  especially.  All  admit  that  slavery  is  a 
great  evil,  and  must  also  allow  that  it  afflicts  our  whole  coun 
try.  It  is  a  national  blot,  inconsistent  with  our  professions, 
and  the  constant  occasion  of  alienation  between  different  por 
tions  of  our  country.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  139 

The  South  too  sensitive;  the  North  too  censorious. 

1  For  my  part,  Henry,'  said  Mr.  L.,  *  I  feel  more  than 
ever  inclined  to  view  all  the  States  as  one  united  whole,  and 
hope  that,  as  a  whole,  they  will  long  be  consecrated  in  the 
affections  of  every  patriot. 

"  This  is  my  own,  my  native  land," 

is  a  sentiment  we  should  all  feel,  and  expresses  a  feeling 
which  I  am  sure  true  patriots  will  love  to  cherish.' 

4  But  I  really  think,  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  <  that  the  South 
are  quite  exorbitant  in  their  claims,  if  they  require  us  to  be 
either  indifferent  to  slavery,  or  silent  and  inactive  when  we 
think  duty  to  our  country,  our  Southern  brethren,  or  to  the 
slave,  calls  for  decision  and  action.' 

*  I  certainly,  think,  Caroline,  that  there  is  a  great  degree 
of  sensitiveness  on  this  subject  at  the  South,  and  they  may, 
in  some  instances,  seem  to  require  too  much  :  but  I  also 
think  that,  situated  as  they  are,  they  have  much  to  awaken 
their  suspicions  ;  and  that  although  they  cannot  reasonably 
expect  us  to  be  indifferent  either  to  their  situation,  our 
country's  good,  or  the  slave's  best  interests,  and  probably  do 
not  claim  this  of  us,  we  are  bound  to  support  the  constitution, 
and  to  respect  the  rights  which  it  secures  to  a  portion  of 
our  fellow-citizens  composing  a  part  of  the  Union  notwith 
standing.  It  appears  to  me  that  we  are  also  bound  by  the 
spirit  of  the  constitution,  as  well  as  by  Christian  principles, 
and  the  feelings  of  humanity,  to  abstain  from  all  inflammatory 
publications  whose  direct  tendency  is  to  excite  insurrection, 
and  which  are  an  infringement  of  those  rights  which  the  con 
stitution  acknowledges  and  guarantees.  An  opposite  course 
may  justly  be  regarded  as  injurious,  not  only  to  the  whites, 
but  to  the  slave,  whose  condition  we  desire  to  improve.  By 


140  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

AH  are  interested,  and  prudent  measures  must  be  pursued. 

publications  or  movements  tending  to  excite  insurrection,  we 
drive  the  holders  of  slaves  to  extremities — to  enactments  and 
to  rigorousjreatment  of  the  slaves ;  even,  as  we  have  seen, 
shutting  from  them  the  light  of  life,  and  withholding  the  or 
dinary  means  of  instruction — that  is,  if  all  their  enactments 
are  meant  to  be  strictly  enforced.' 

*  I  suppose  that  Caroline,*  said  Henry,  *  refers  to  an  arti 
cle  we  were  noticing  this  morning,  in  a  Southern  paper, 
which  asserts,  that  "  the  North  has  nothing  to  do  with  this 
subject  of  black  population,  and  all  their  solicitude  about  it, 
is  meddling  and  officious." 

1  The  evil  is  ours  as  well  as  theirs.  The  multitude  of 
blacks  which  the  severe  legislation  of  the  South  drives  into 
the  free  States,  alone  attests  that  we  have  a  share  in  the  evil. 
The  reproaches  which  are  cast  upon  our  national  honour,  tell 
us  that  we  have  something  to  do  with  slavery.  The  convul 
sions  which  reach  the  very  extremities  of  our  land,  and  often 
seize  upon  the  very  heart  of  this  great  republic,  and  anger 
our  national  discussions,  and  give  a  character  to  important 
events  and  measures,  show  that  we  may  not  be  indifferent  to 
the  slave  question.  It  has  been  remarked  by  a  distinguished 
scholar,  that  "diseased  members  affect  the  entire  physical 
system.  Soundness  is  to  be  restored  to  the  limbs,  not  by 
excision,  which  would  both  destroy  them,  and  hazard  the 
entire  body;  but  by  a  general  return  of  health,  and  a  genial 
circulation  to  the  whole." 

*  Another  reason  why  I  consider  the  evil  as  ours,  is  that 
the  guilt  of  slavery  is  ours.     We  are  too  ready  to  appro 
priate  it  all  to  our  Southern  brethren:  but  we  have  no  power 
or  right  thus  to  wash  our  hands.     From  the  North  have 
gone  ships  and  seamen  and  traders  in  human  flesh,  that  have 
been  polluted  by  the  inhuman  traffic,  and  the  "pieces  of  sil-- 


OP  THE 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  141 

_ 


The  guilt  of"  slavery  chargeable  on  the  North? 


ver"  gained  by  them  have  been  apportioned  at  the  North. 
In  the  North  were  the  forges  which  framed  fetters  and  mana 
cles  for  the  limbs  of  oppressed  and  unoffending  Africans.  It 
was  the  iron  of  the  North  that  pierced  their  anguished  souls : 
and  overgrown  fortunes  and  proud  palaces  at  the  North  still 
stand,  reared  from  the  blood  and  sufferings  of  unhappy 
slaves,  which  tell  that  the  North  have  shared  largely  in  the 
accursed  spoils. 

4  Besides,  there  is  little  room  for  boasting  on  our  part, 
when  it  is  considered  that  the  different  physical  features 
and  agricultural  productions  of  the  South  and  North  have, 
as  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  more  than  the  force 
or  absence  of  proper  moral  feeling,  banished  slavery  from  the 
one,  and  perpetuated  it  in  the  other.  Had  New-York,  New- 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  or  even  New-England  produced  cotton, 
rice,  indigo,  and  sugar,  it  is  not  improbable  that  slavery  would 
have  continued  in  these  States  and  increased  its  numbers 
here  to  this  very  hour.  The  same  may  be  supposed,  with 
out  uncharitableness,  of  the  new  States  north  of  the  Ohio, 
and  east  of  the  Mississippi. 

« There  can  be  no  good  reason,  I  conceive,  why,  by  fair 
argument,  by  our  best  influence,  and  by  our  pecuniary  re 
sources,  we  should  not  aim  to  promote  the  cause  of  patriot 
ism  and  humanity,  in  civilizing  and  converting  Africa,  and  in 
rendering  mutual  benefits  to  the  oppressed  among  us,  and  to 
our  beloved  country..  Nor  should  this  be  regarded  by  the 
South  as  unrighteous  interference,  or  unkindness.  Great 
wisdom,  however,  is  to  be  used  in  this  matter. 

'  It  was  you,  Henry,  if  I  recollect,  who  were  repeating,  a 
few  days  since,  some  lines  as  an  appeal  to  the  North.  Will 
you  repeat  them  now,  as  they  are  not  an  unappropriate  con 
clusion  of  this  part  of  our  discussion  ?' 


142  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Appeal  to  New-England. 

•  They  were  written  by  Mrs.  Sigourney,  and  are  entitled 

AN    APPEAL    TO   NEW   ENGLAND. 

"  When  injur'd  Afric's  captive  claim, 

Loads  the  sad  gale  with  startling  moan, 
The  frown  of  deep,  indignant  blame, 

Bends  not  on  Southern  climes  alone. 

Her  toil,  and  chain,  and  scalding  tear, 

Our  daily  board  with  luxuries  deck, 
And  to  dark  slavery's  yoke  severe 

Our  fathers  help'd  to  bow  her  neck. 

If  slumbering  in  the  thoughtful  breast, 

Or  justice,  or  compassion  dwell; 
Call  from  their  couch  the  hallowed  guest, 

The  deed  to  prompt,  the  prayer  to  swell : 

Oh,  lift  the  hand,  and  Peace  shall  bear 

Her  olive  where  the  palm-tree  grows, 
And  torrid  Afric's  deserts  share 

The  fragrance  of  Salvation's  rose. 

But  if,  with  Pilate's  stoic  eye, 

We  calmly  wash  when  blood  is  spilt, 
Or  deem  a  cold,  unpitying  sigh 

Absolves  us  from  the  stain  of  guilt? 

Or  if,  like  Jacob's  recreant  train, 

Who  traffic'd  in  a  brother's  wo, 
We  hear  the  suppliant  plead  in  vain, 

Or  mock  his  tears  that  wildly  flow  ; 

Will  not  the  judgments  of  the  skies, 
Which  threw  a  shield  round  Joseph  sold, 

Be  roused  by  fetter'd  Afric's  cries, 
And  change  to  dross  the  oppressor's  gold  ?" 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  143 


A  national  debt. 


CONVERSATION  XV. 


"  If  the  measure  is,  as  we  believe  it  to  be,  essentially  national ;  then  we 
are  all  interested,  and  should  be  deeply  concerned  for  its  success." 

Gov.  Trimble. 


1 1  DO  not  see,  Pa,  why  it  should  be  a  question  to  whom 
the  duty  belongs  of  helping  forward  this  good  cause  ;  nor 
why  every  citizen  may  not  esteem  it  a  privilege  and  an 
honour  to  do  justice  to  injured  Africa  ;  especially  when,  in 
performing  this  duty,  we  act  a  filial  part  towards  our  own 
country.' 

'  The  debt  which  we  owe  to  Africa,  is,  indeed,  a  national 
debt ;  and  we  are  all  interested  in  its  liquidation.  If,  instead 
of  mutual  recrimination,  South  and  North,  East  and  West, 
could  combine  their  wisdom  and  benevolence  to  devise 
ways  and  means  for  the  ultimate  and  speedy  removal  of  the 
evil,  and  if  there  could  be  mutual  confidence  between  the 
different  sections  of  our  country  in  respect  to  this  matter, 
I  see  not  why  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  then 
taking  the  lead,  our  National  Congress  might  not  come  up 
to  the  work  and  ofler  that  national  atonement  which  every 
consideration  of  justice  and  humanity  would  commend, 
and  which  would  reflect  bright  honour  on  the  generation 
that  should  do  the  deed.  For  this,  if  the  South  prepare 


144  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

The  debt  ought  to  be,  arid  may  be  cancelled. 

the  way,  by  her  own  action  and  example,  I  am  sure  the 
other  States  will  not  be  backward  in  their  duty  ;  and  the  debt 
which  as  a  nation  we  owe  to  Africa,  may  be  speedily  can 
celled  by  us  as  a  nation.' 

'  Why,  Sir,  is  it  necessary  that  the  South  should  move 
first  in  this  matter  ?' 

*  I  know  not  that  there  is  any  other  necessity  in  the  case 
than  that  of  expediency  and  propriety.     It  appears  to  be  a 
point   universally   conceded   by    statesmen,    that    the   con 
tinuance,  or  removal  of  slavery,  is  solely  within  the  power 
of  the  domestic  legislation  of  the  State  in  which  it  exists. 
It  is  very  evident,  therefore,  that  we  can  accomplish  nothing 
by  any  measures  on  our  part,  except  as  the  South  approvesr; 
whilst  it  is  equally  evident  that  any  measures  on  our  part  of 
a  coercive  nature,  or  calculated  to   disturb  the  domestic  ar 
rangements  of  the  South,  would  be  a  violation  of  our  politi 
cal  contract  and  of  good  faith.1 

'  But,  Pa,  you  do  not  think  that  the  subject  of  slavery 
ought  not  to  be  discussed  even  publicly  if  we  please  ;  and 
that  no  arguments  should  be  used  by  us  with  our  Southern 
brethren  to  encourage  and  persuade  them  to  correct  views 
and  early  action  in  respect  to  a  final  and  general  emanci 
pation  ?' 

*  Certainly  not.     Dr.   Channing,   whatever  discrepancies 
are  found  in  his  recent  work,  has  clearly  expressed  my 
views  on  this   subject  :     "  Slavery  ought  to  be   discussed. 
We  ought  to  think,  feel,  speak,  and  write  about  it.     But 
whatever  we  do  in  regard  to  it,  should.be  done  with  a  deep 
feeling  of  responsibility,  and   so  done  as  not  to  put  in  jeo 
pardy  the  peace  of  the  slave-holding  States.     On  this  point 
public  opinion  has  not  been,  and  cannot  be  too  strongly  pro- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  145 

The  right  of  discussion. 

nounced.  *  *  To  instigate  the  slave  to  insurrection  is  a 
crime  for  which  no  rebuke  and  no  punishment  can  be  too 
severe.  *  *  It  is  not  enough  to  say,  that  the  constitu 
tion  is  violated  by  any  action  endangering  the  slave-holding 
portion  of  our  country.  A  higher  law  than  the  constitution 
forbids  this  unholy  interference.  Were  our  National  Union 
dissolved,  we  ought  to  reprobate,  as  sternly  as  we  now  do, 
the  slightest  manifestation  of  a  disposition  to  stir  up  a  servile 
war.  Still  more,  were  the  free  and  the  slave-holding  States  not 
only  separated,  but  engaged  in  the  fiercest  hostilities,  the 
former  would  deserve  the  abhorrence  of  the  world,  and  the 
indignation  of  heaven,  were  they  to  'resort  to  insurrection 
and  massacre  as  means  of  victory." 

4  The  right  of  discussion  is  sometimes  claimed  in  a  sense 
which  is  far  from  reasonable  ;  and  there  is  often  in  connex 
ion  with  this  claim  a  disposition  to  go  beyond  the  law  for  a 
rule  of  action,  and  to  justify  that  which  the  law  and  public 
opinion  condemns.  There  is  indeed  an  alarming  propensity 
among  men  at  the  present  day,  to  set  all  rightful  authority 
at  defiance,  under  the  dangerous  pretence  that  the  end  jus 
tifies  the  means.  Even  that  liberty  of  speech  which  is  jus 
tified  by  law,  it  is  not  always  expedient  to  exercise ;  and  that 
which  is  clearly  inexpedient,  although  not  condemned  in 
civil  law,  is  morally  wrong.' 

1  But,  suppose,'  said  Henry,  *  that  I  find  slavery  forbidden 
in  holy  Scripture,  and  am  impressed  with  the  belief  that,  re 
gardless  of  consequences,  I  ought  to  assist  and  favour  the 
slave,  and  on  all  occasions,  to  resist  and  lift  up  my  voice 
against  the  institution  ?'  9 

«  If  we  suppose  this,^we  suppose  one  thing  which  it  may 
be  very  difficult  to  prove  ;  and  another  which,  if  reality, 
might  be  altogether  insufficient  to  convince  the  world  that 

M 


146  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

That  which  is  inexpedient,  may  be  a  moral  wrong. 

your  impressions  have  any  claim  to  an  inspiration  from 
above,  or  that  they  clothe  you  with  any  authority  to  trample 
under  foot  the  rules  of  propriety  and  morality,  and  the  laws 
of  the  land.  It  will  never  do  for  us  to  be  guided  by  the  va 
garies  of  the  human  intellect.  One  person  thinks  that  there 
should  be  a  community  of  property ;  another  that  the  law 
of  marriage  is  a  monopoly,  and  that  all  contracts  under  that 
law  should  cease  at  the  will  of  the  parties  ;  another  believes 
the  law  which  punishes  the  felon  with  death,  involves  the 
whole  State  in  guilt,  and  that  capital  punishments  should  be 
resisted :  suppose  that  each  claims  an  unrestricted  right  of 
discussion,  and  becomes  the  open  and  fearless  advocate  for 
his  peculiar  opinion  and  its  legitimate  fruits,  would  such  a 
course  show  proper  respect  either  for  civil  law,  or  the  law  of 
God  which  requires  that  we  render  unto  Caesar  the  things 
which  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  his  ? 
The  Scriptures  do  not  undertake  to  legislate  for  the  nations 
in  respect  to  their  domestic  economy ;  nor  do  they,  in  any 
case,  decide  the  question  of  property,  even  although  the 
question  relate  to  an  alleged  right  to  the  service  of  our 
fellow-man.  They  recognize  slavery  as  existing  under  the 
Mosaic  dispensation,  and  also  under  the  Christian  dispensa 
tion,  and  direct  in  respect  to  the  duties  of  masters  and  of 
servants  and  slaves,  without,  as  I  can  see,  in  all  this,  either 
sanctioning  slavery  as  just,  or  treating  it  with  direct  cen 
sure. 

*  What  the  law  of  our  land  is,  in  relation  to  slavery,  you 
well  know.  As  slavery  "  has  existed,  in  all  time,  in  the 
fairest  regions  of  the  earth,  and  among  the  most  civilized 
portions  of  mankind,"  so  it  has  been  recognized  and  sus 
tained  by  law.  "  Our  own  government,  not  long  since, 
made  a  claim  on  Great  Britain  for  the  value  of  the  property 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  some  hundred  human 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  147 

Rights  guaranteed. 

slaves.  The  principle  was  admitted  by  the  English  nation  ; 
the  amount  to  be  paid  was  referred  to  the  arbitration  of  the 
Emperor  of  Russia;  the  claim  was  allowed,  and  the  money 
received  and  distributed  to  the  claimants  for  their  loss  of 
property  in  slaves."  The  principle  is  acknowledged  and 
guaranteed  by  our  constitution  ;  and  the  fact  is  recognized, 
and  the  existence  of  such  property  acknowledged  as  often 
as  a  runaway  slave  is  taken,  on  the  application  of  his  master, 
in  the  non-slave-holding  States.  "  Our  Supreme  Court,  re 
ferring  to  the  period  when  slavery  was  recognized  here  by 
law,  has  in  numerous  instances  adjudicated  important  rights 
on  the  doctrine  that  where  slavery  does  exist  or  has  existed  by 
the  law  of  the  land,  such  law  did  admit,  and  must  now  be  deem 
ed  to  admit,  the  existence  of  property  in  human  beings,"  Pro- 
perty  is  thus  considered  "  the  creature  of  municipal  law  ;" 
and,  indeed,  property  of  no  kind  exists  without  law.  The 
laws  may  be  unwise,  impolitic,  unjust,  and  cruel ;  but  still 
they  have  their  effect ;  and  although  "  arguments  may  very 
properly  be  urged  to  prove  that  the  laws  ought  to  be 
changed,"  yet  no  action  can  be  tolerated  in  society  which, 
while  the.  laws  stand,  goes  to  make  them  "  inoperative  and 
void."  Good  order  requires  an  observance  of  the  laws  so 
long  as  they  remain. 

'  The  mere  right  of  discussion  is  unquestionable.  It  is 
well  declared  to  be  "one  of  the  elements  of  public  liberty;" 
and  the  South  require  too  much,  if  they  demand  of  us  that 
we  shall  abstain  from  the  free  discussion  of  any  subject 
whatever.  Still,  the  legal  right,  "  like  all  other  human 
rights,  is  to  be  controlled  by  a  high  moral  responsibility  ;" 
and,  there  are  cases  where  "  the  expediency  of  the  exercise 
of  such  rights  may  become  matter  of  most  grave  considera 
tion."  It  is  very  clear  that  sweeping  denunciations,  harsh 
aspersions,  and  threatening  invective,  are  always  calculated 


148  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Value  of  slave  property. 

"  to  produce  obduracy  in  error  and  resentment  for  indignity, 
sustaining  a  man  in  his  vices  even,  by  motives  of  supposed 
self-respect."  Slavery  is  now  permitted  in  fifteen  States  and 
Territories ;  and  the  amount  of  property  claimed  in  the 
slaves  in  these  States  and  Territories  by  five  millions  of  free 
men,  is  not  less  than  five  hundred  millions  of  dollars — 
some  estimates  say  $800,000,000  !  And  the  subject  calls 
for  much  consideration  and  forbearance  on  our  part,  lest  by 
our  injudicious  movements  we  protract  the  evil  which  we 
desire  to  see  come  to  an  end.  In  seeking  the  accomplish 
ment  of  any  great  object,  common  prudence  dictates  that  we 
take  mankind  as  they  are,  and  not  as  we  would  have 
them. 

'  It  is  an  indubitable  fact,  in  my  own  view,  that  such  may, 
through  the  force  of  circumstances,  become  the  state  of  so 
ciety,  that  great  moral  evils  may  be  tolerated  when  the  con 
viction  is  clear  that  acts  of  prohibition  would  produce  evils 
far  more  extensive  and  much  more  to  be  deprecated.  So 
deranged  and  disordered,  or  complicate,  by  the  practice,  or 
misfortunes,  of  a  former  age,  may  become  the  very  texture 
of  society ;  and  so  peculiar  the  relations  which  as  a  people 
we  sustain  to  each  other,  that  an  immediate  and  entire  cor 
rection  of  the  evil  may  be  impracticable,  and  that  therefore 
neither  individuals  nor  society  are  bound  to  attempt  it.  Such 
a  state  of  things,  however,  can  be  no  excuse  for  crime,  nor 
for  that  indifference  or  cupidity  that  would  tolerate  the  evil 
for  ever,  or  withhold  proper  effort  for  its  gradual,  judicious, 
and  effectual  removal.' 

4  The  supposition  which  I  made,  was  only  a  supposition,' 
said  Henry  ;  '  the  country  has  been  greatly  agitated  of  late 
by  the  subject  of  slavery.  It  neither  seems  to  me  right  to 
interfere  with  the  Southern  relations,  nor  to  resort  to  vio 
lence  to  suppress  the  liberty  of  speech.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  149 

The  Federal  compact. 

*  The  acts  of  illegal  violence  and  shameful  outrage  which 
have  grown  out  of  the  excitement  kindled  on  this  subject, 
in  whatever  part  of  the  Union,  cannot  be  too  strongly  de 
plored,  nor  too  severely  censured.' 

'  Why,'  said  Caroline,  '  did  not  our  fathers,  when  our  in 
dependence  was  asserted,  and  its  acknowledgment  obtained 
from  the  mother  country,  make  provision  for  the  final  eman 
cipation  of  slaves,  in  the  Constitution  ?' 

'  On  this  subject,  Gov.  Everett  of  Massachusetts  has  spo 
ken,  and  I  will  give  you  his  words  : — 

"  It  was  deemed  a  point  of  the  highest  public  policy,  by 
the  non-slave-holding  States,  notwithstanding  the  existence 
of  slavery  in  their  sister  States,  to  enter  with  them  into  the 
present  Union,  on  the  basis  of  the  constitutional  compact. 
That  no  Union  could  have  been  formed,  on  any  other  basis, 
is  a  fact  of  historical  notoriety  ;  and  it  is  asserted  in  terms, 
by  General  Hamilton,  in  the  reported  debates  in  the  New- 
York  Convention  for  adopting  the  Constitution. 

"This  compact,"  Gov.  E.  continues,  "  expressly  recog 
nizes  the  existence  of  slavery ;  and  concedes  to  the  States 
where  it  prevails  the  most  important  rights  and  privileges 
connected  with  it.  Every  thing  that  tends  to  disturb  the 
relations  created  by  this  compact  is  at  war  with  its  spirit; 
and  whatever,  by  direct  and  necessary  operation,  is  calcu 
lated  to  excite  an  insurrection  among  the  slaves,  has  been 
held,  by  highly  respectable  legal  authority,  an  offence 
against  the  peace  of  the  commonwealth,  which  may  be 
prosecuted  as  a  misdemeanor  at  common  law.  Although 
opinions  may  differ  on  this  point,  it  would  seem  the  safer 
course,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  case,  to  imi 
tate  the  example  of  our  fathers — the  Adamses,  the  Han 
cocks,  and  other  eminent  patriots  of  the  Revolution  ;  who, 

M2 


150  CONVERSATIONS    ON  SLAVERY. 

Difficulties  of  emancipation. 

although  fresh  from  the  battles  of  liberty,  and  approaching 
the  question  as  essentially  an  open  one,  deemed  it  never 
theless  expedient  to  enter  into  a  union  with  our  brothers  of 
the  slave-holding  States,  on  the  principle  of  forbearance  and 
toleration  on  this  subject."  ' 

1  It  is  not  strange,  Sir,  that  the  South  are  unwilling  that 
strangers  should  intermeddle  with  this  part  of  their  domestic 
concerns.  Reasons  are  obvious  to  my  mind  now,  which  did 
not  present  themselves  before.' 

*  We  all  know  with  what  tenacity  mankind  are  wont  to 
cling  to  the  possession  of  whatever  is  called  property. 
Eight  hundred  millions  (for  we  have  to  do  with  facts,  not 
theories  in  this  case,)  is  a  vast  amount,  and  in  whatever 
light  we  may  regard  the  justice  of  the  claim  to  the  kind  of 
property  in  question,  the  relinquishment  of  it  would  doubt 
less  be  regarded  as  an  enormous  sacrifice. 

'It  has  been  calculated  that  putting  down  the  estimate  at 
one  half  the  lowest  value  put  upon  this  species  of  property 
at  the  South,  that  is,  at  250  millions  only,  instead  of  800 
millions  ;  the  relinquishment  of  this  amount  by  about  four 
millions  of  freemen,  would  be  equivalent  to  a  tax  of  more 
than  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  on  the  six  New-Eng 
land  States ;  and  divided,  it  would  be  upwards  of  thirty-six 
millions  of  dollars  for  the  State  of  Massachusetts  alone; 
and  four  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  would,  if  the  amount 
were  assessed,  fall  upon  the  city  of  Boston.  If  the  amount 
were  divided,  the  whole  United  States,  North  and  South, 
agreeing  to  pay  the  amount  by  a  general  assessment  for  the 
indemnity  of  the  slave-holders,  which  I  think  would  be 
just,  the  quota  for  the  city  of  Boston  alone  would  be  nearly 
one  million  and  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars :  and  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  must  contribute  seventeen  millions 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  151 

Difficulties  of  emancipation. 

and  a  half.  Says  the  gentleman  of  Boston,  the  author  of 
*  Remarks  on  Dr.  Channing's  Slavery,'  who  makes  this  cal 
culation,  "  I  have  all  reasonable  faith  in  the  generosity,  the 
spirit  and  the  nobleness  of  my  fellow-citizens,  but  if  it  were 
asked  of  them  to  take  this  immense  amount  and  pour  it  as  a 
votive  gift  into  the  ocean,  or  gather  it  and  burn  it  on  their 
lofty  hills  as  a  beacon-fire  in  honour  of  freedom  and  to  re 
lieve  the  Southern  slaves  from  their  bondage,  who  ventures 
to  believe  he  would  live  long  enough  to  see  the  consumma 
tion  of  so  much  moral  glory  ?  *  *  *  If  here  then,  where 
there  is  such  an  abhorrence  of  slavery,  where  there  is  so 
much  high  principle,  where  so  many  think  it  morally  wrong, 
there  would  be  found  some  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  contri 
bution  large  enough  to  purchase  ease  to  our  own  con 
sciences,  by  relieving  the  country  of  this  iniquity,  what 
may  be  expected  in  the  slave  districts,  where  there  is  no 
such  feeling,  and  of  whose  freemen  we  ask  not  to  contri 
bute  merely,  but  to  take  upon  themselves  the  whole  load — 
to  reduce  themselves  to  want — their  families  to  beggary  and 
their  country  to  ruin  ?" 

*  Still,  /  hope,'  said  Caroline,  « that  we  may  live  to  see 
the  day  when  our  whole  country  will  be  ready  to  engage 
unitedly  and  harmoniously  in  this  good  work/ 

*I  would  fain  indulge  the  hope,'  said  Mr.  L.,  '  notwith 
standing  all  that  is  now  most  discouraging.  We  must  re 
member,  however,  that  if  slavery  is  to  be  brought  to  an  end 
in  our  land,  in  a  way  that  shall  be  honourable  and  not  de 
structive  of  our  national  existence,  it  must  be  by  the  consent 
of  the  South.  A  dissolution  of  the  Union  and  civil  war, 
perhaps  a  servile  war  also,  would  be  the  inevitable  conse 
quence  of  any  coercion  on  the  part  of  the  non-slave-holding 
States. 


152  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  south  tenacious  of  its  rights. 

*  To  return  to  the  motives  which  influence  the  South — I 
was  going  also  to  mention  an  idea  prevalent  at  the  South, 
that  a  portion  "  of  the  land  is  susceptible  only  of  slave  cul 
tivation,  and  that  without  this  kind  of  labour  their  fine  fields 
would  be  desolate."  This  idea,  whether  correct  or  not,  is 
doubtless  one  of  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  abolition. 
Another  difficulty  is  found  in  the  fact  that,  for  the  want  of 
sufficient  incentives  in  this  country  to  effort  and  virtue,  the 
emancipated  slave  generally  becomes  a  nuisance  and  pest  to 
society;  and  general  emancipation  without  colonization 
would  despoil  the  whites  at  the  South  of  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  and  drive  them  from  it ;  or  in  a  short  time  render 
the  South  one  "  great  prison-house"  in  a  far  different  sense 
from  what  it  is  at  present,  if  not  a  scene  of  butchery,  mas 
sacre,  and  blood. 

'But  besides  these  considerations,  the  South  has  become 
extremely  sensitive  of  its  dignity  and  jealous  for  its  alleged 
rights  ;  and  will  not  allow  the  least  interference  in  respect  to 
this  question.  They  will  not  suffer  dictation  or  instruction, 
and  they  will  scarcely  listen  to  reason  or  allow  discussion. 
Indeed,  the  South  may  be  considered  as  having  pronounced 
its  decision,  that  slavery  shall  not  be  discussed  in  any  shape, 
within  its  borders,  except  as  subject  to  restrictions  which  the 
South  may  see  fit  to  impose.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  is, 
that  they  will  not  "by  any  affectation  of  liberality,  endanger 
their  social  system."  Claiming  to  be  sovereign  and  inde 
pendent  States,  in  respect  to  this  part  of  their  domestic  eco 
nomy,  they  are  fairly  resolved  to  resist  all  encroachments 
upon  their  prerogative  ;  regarding  it  wrong  for  one  State,  or 
individuals  in  that  State,  to  interfere  with,  or  in  any  way  in 
terrupt  or  endanger  the  domestic  relations  of  another  State, 
as  it  would  be  for  a  foreign  power  to  interfere  in  the  domes 
tic  concerns  of  our  common  countrv.  An  interference  of  the 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  153 

All  foreign  interference  inadmissible. 

latter  kind  would  stir  our  whole  country  to  indignation. 
Even  the  anti-slavery  mission  of  an  individual  recently  sent 
out  to  this  country  by  an  association  of  females  in  Scotland, 
was  not  tolerated  ;  the  non-slave-holding  States,  as  well  as 
the  South,  were  moved  at  once  by  the  alleged  intrusion. 
With  equal  disapprobation  do  we  listen  to  the  threat  of  the 
Irish  agitator,  and  his  coadjutors  in  Parliament,  "  We  will 
turn  to  America  and  require  emancipation."  What,  should 
we,  believing,  as  many  do,  that  Ireland  is  in  an  enslaved  con 
dition,  form  societies  in  our  country  for  the  establishment  of 
universal  liberty,  and  send  agents  into  the  British  dominions 
for  the  purpose  of  aiding  O'Connel,  or  others,  in  efforts  at 
agitation  there:  how  would  our  philanthropy  be  regarded,  I 
will  not  say  by  England,  but  by  the  nations?  The  same 
view  is  taken  by  the  South  of  any  interference  in  the  North 
ern  States  with  their  domestic  relations.  Nay,  they  go  fur 
ther,  and  insist  that  inasmuch  as  "  our  constitution  was  a 
compromise,  in  which  we  agreed  that  each  State  should  in 
its  own  domestic  affairs  be  sovereign  and  independent,"  so 
"  it  is  the  highest  infraction  of  all  moral  principle  to  violate 
the  obligations  which  our  contract  imposes  upon  us."  And 
with  the  same  view  of  moral  duty,  there  are  many  at  the 
North  who  abhor  slavery,  and  can  truly  say  with  Cowper, 

"  I  would  not  have  a  slave  to  till  my  ground," 

who  at  the  same  time  unhesitatingly  endorse  the  language  of 
the  Boston  Reviewer  incognito,  to  whom  I  have  already  re 
ferred,  but  all  of  whose  views,  in  extenso,  I  should  be  greatly 
unwilling  to  adopt,  "In  all  codes  of  morality  honesty  holds 
the  first  place,  and  I  deem  it  dishonest,  as  it  is  dishonoura 
ble,  to  do  that  by  indirect  means  which  I  am  prohibited  from 
doing  openly  and  avowedly  before  the  world.  If  insurrec 
tion  breaks  out — if  war  and  its  atrocities  are  the  consequence, 


154  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  constitutional  question. 

no  drop  of  the  vast  torrent  of  blood  that  is  to  flow  shall  be 
laid  to  my  account.  *  *  I  cannot  reconcile  it  to  my  con 
science,  while  I  daily  and  hourly  enjoy  the  blessings  of  this 
republican  government,  to  take  back  any  part  of  the  price 
that  was  paid  for  it."  They  consider  that  the  present  slave 
holders  did  not  originate  the  system  ;  and  that  they  cannot 
consistently  either  with  their  duty  to  the  slave,  their  coun 
try,  or  themselves,  change  the  present  state  of  things  in  a 
moment ;  and  that  they  alone,  on  whom  the  accountability 
rests,  must  determine,  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  in  obedience 
to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences,  when,  and  in  what 
way,  the  system  of  slavery  and  all  its  present  evils  shall 
come  to  an  end. 

1  The  opinion  of  Daniel  Webster,  expressed  not  long  since 
in  a  letter  to  a  gentleman  in  New-York,  and  published  v*rith 
his  permission,  probably  expresses  the  sentiments  of  the 
North  generally:  "In  my  opinion,"  says  he,  "  the  domes 
tic  slavery  of  the  Southern  States  is  a  subject  within  the  ex 
clusive  control  of  the  States  themselves  ;  and,  this  I  am 
sure,  is  the  opinion  of  the  North.  Congress  has  no  au 
thority  to  interfere  in  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  or  in  the 
treatment  of  them  in  any  of  the  States.  This  was  so  re 
solved  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  when  Congress  sat 
in  [New-York]  in  1790,  on  the  report  of  a  committee  con 
sisting  almost  entirely  of  northern  members  ;  and  I  do  not 
know  an  instance  of  the  expression  of  a  different  opinion  in 
either  house  of  Congress  since.  *  *  The  servitude  of  so 
great  a  portion  of  the  population  of  the  South  is,  undoubt 
edly,  regarded  at  the  North,  as  a  great  evil,  moral  and  po 
litical.  But  it  is  regarded,  nevertheless,  as  an  evil,  the 
remedy  of  which  lies  with  those  legislatures  themselves 
[Southern,]  to  be  provided  and  applied  according  to  their 
own  sense  of  policy  and  duty." 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  155 

Effects  of  discussion. 

*  It  is  indeed  a  melancholy  consideration  that  domestic 
slavery  in  the  United  States  is  so  intimately  connected  with 
civil  society.     But  we  must  take  the  evil  as  it  is  ;  and  seek 
the  remedy  in  that  way  which  is  legally  and  morally  right, 
and  which  will   not  bring   about  a  greater  evil  than  that 
which  we  seek  to  redress.' 

*  I  wonder,    Sir,    what  effect  the   discussions  which  are 
going  forward  has  upon  the  peace  of  mind  and  happiness  of 
the  Southern  slaves  ;  I   suppose  that  some  of  them  are  ac 
quainted  with  the  agitations  of  the  times  ?' 

1  The  effect  of  movements  at  the  North  which  go  to  en 
danger  the  stability  of  Southern  institutions,  on  the  condi 
tion  of  both  the  coloured  free,  and  the  slaves,  is  seen  in  the 
severity  of  the  recent  legislative  enactments.  The  talented 
editor  of  the  U.  S.  Gazette  has  well  remarked,  that  one 
can  scarcely  read  of  these  proceedings,  without  being  re 
minded  of  the  remark  (doubtless,  ironical  remark)  of  the 
distinguished  but  eccentric  John  Randolph,  when  some  anti- 
slavery  measure  was  proposed  in  Congress — "  I  will  hurry 
home  and  flog  Juba."  The  effect  is,  that  as  movements  are 
made  at  the  North,  which  are  regarded  by  the  South  as  pre 
judicial  to  their  interests,  they  proceed  at  once  to  "  flog 
Juba" — in  other  words,  pass  laws  and  keep  up  an  espionage 
grievously  oppressive  to  the  coloured  people.  The  imme 
diate  effect  upon  the  mind  and  consequently  upon  the  peace 
and  enjoyment  of  the  slaves,  so  far  as  they  are  led  to  reflect 
on  their  condition,  is  far  from  contributing  to  either.  It  is 
impossible  that  they  should  be  indifferent  to  the  subject 
when  it  is  brought  before  their  mind ;  it  is  impossible  that 
they  should  be  otherwise  than  uneasy,  discontented,  unhap 
py,  inclined  to  revenge.  A  Virginia  free  black  has  said  in 
respect  to  the  laws  of  slavery  and  those  affecting  the  condi- 


156  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Disunion  and  collision  would  be  madness. 

tion  of  the  free  coloured  people,  "these  things  were  never 
felt  or  even  known  by  us  until  our  Northern  friends  brought 
their  existence  before  our  remembrance." ' 

*  But,  Pa,  is  it  not  a  fact,'  said  Henry,  '  that,  if  all  in  the 
non-slaveholding  States  were  of  one  mind  in  reprobating 
slavery,  and  supposing  it  proper  for  them  to  do  so,  were  dis 
posed  to  insist  that  the  South  shall  emancipate  their  slaves  ; 
the  slave-holding  States  are  not  so  much  in  the  minority  that  it 
would  be  possible  for  the  demand  to  be  enforced  ?  I  do  not 
imagine  that  such  a  case  will  ever  occur ;  but  a  supposition 
of  the  kind,  and  a  correct  view  of  the  relative  strength  of 
the  parties,  it  appears  to  me  is  calculated  to  dissipate  every 
hope  of  truly  benefitting  the  slave  except  as  we  act  in  con 
currence  with  the  views  of  his  master.' 

1  The  slave-holding  districts  are  the  fairest  and  most  im 
portant  portions  of  our  country,  if  we  regard  the  extent  of 
territory,  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  or  the  increase  of  popula 
tion.  It  is,  of  course,  destined  we  should  suppose  to  extend 
its  influence  and  political  power  in  the  government  of  the 
country.  But  even  now  the  disparity  is  not  so  great  be 
tween  the  two  divisions  of  our  country  that  a  determined 
xx)llision  would  not  be  most  fearful,  and  in  all  probability  de 
structive  to  both.  We  must  never  allow  ourselves,  how 
ever,  to  dwell  on  such  a  topic.  The  thought  is  too  painful 
— the  event,  we  will  hope,  can  never  be.  It  were  a  strange 
infatuation  indeed  that  should  lead  to  it — a  strange  patriot 
ism,  and  benevolence,  and  philanthropy,  indeed ! 

4  We  will  close  the  present  conversation,  with  a  few  ex 
tracts  which  I  will  read  from  an  address  in  the  Richmond 
Enquirer,  which  the  editor  of  that  paper  says  is,  what  it 
purports  to  be,  the  production  of  "  a  Matron  of  Eastern  Vir 
ginia,"  elicited  by  discussions  at  Washington  and  else- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  157 

Disunion  and  collision  would  be  madness. 

where,  which  she  regarded  as  of  a  "  highly  intemperate  and 
pernicious  character,  entirely  subversive  of  the  tranquility 
and  happiness  of  society."  The  extract  will  serve  to  show 
more  clearly  the  views  and  feelings  which  prevail  at  the 
South. 

"  As  a  daughter  of  our  eastern  Virginia,  and  therefore 
most  deeply  interested  in  all  that  involves  her  interests  and 
prosperity,  permit  me  to  entreat  gentlemen  no  longer  to  dis 
card  all  prudential  considerations,  but  to  pause  and  calmly 
reflect  that  they  are  compromising  the  safety  of  millions,  by 
their  ill-timed  and  imprudent  discussions.  *  *  Shut  your 
eyes  no  longer,  my  countrymen — the  Union  is  threatened ; 
and  all  the  blessings  it  confers,  and  which  our  fathers  suffer 
ed  and  died  to  attain,  must  perish  with  it.  Scorn  not  the 
feeble  voice  of  a  woman,  when  she  calls  on  you  to  awake 
to  your  danger,  ere  it  be  for  ever  too  late.  We  are  told,  that 
the  citizens  of  the  North  would  arouse  our  slaves  to  exert 
their  physical  force  against  us — but  we  cannot,  we  will  not 
believe  the  foul,  shocking,  unnatural  tale.  What !  have  the 
daughters  of  the  South  inflicted  such  injuries  on  their 
Northern  brethren,  as  to  render  them  objects  of  their  deadly, 
exterminating  hate  ?  Have  helpless  age,  smiling  infancy, 
virgin  purity,  no  claims  on  the  generous,  the  high-minded, 
and  the  brave  ?  Would  they  introduce  the  serpents  of  fear 
and  withering  anxiety  into  the  Edens  of  domestic  bliss ; 
bathe  our  peaceful  hearths  with  blood,  and  force  us  to  abhor 
those  ties  which  now  unite  us  as  one  people,  and  which  we 
so  lately  taught  our  sons  to  regard  as  our  pride,  and  the 
very  palladium  of  our  prosperity  ?  *  *  The  poor  slave 
himself  merits  not  at  their  hands  the  mischief  and  wo  which 
his  mistaken  advocates  would  heap  on  his  devoted  head. 
The  Northern  people  are  too  well  acquainted  with  histori 
cal  facts,  to  condemn  us  for  evils  which  we  deprecated  as 

N 


158  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

A  Virginia  matron's  appeal. 

warmly  as  themselves,  but  which  were  ruthlessly  imposed 
on  us  by  the  power  of  Great  Britain."  Appealing  to  the 
North,  she  continues,  "  We  deprecate  slavery  as  much  as 
you.  We  as  ardently  desire  the  liberty  of  the  whole  human 
race ;  but  what  can  we  do  ?  The  slow  hand  of  time  must 
overcome  difficulties  now  insurmountable.  An  evil,  the 
growth  of  ages,  cannot  be  remedied  in  a  day.  Our  virtuous 
and  enlightened  men  will  doubtless  effect  much  by  cautious 
exertion,  if  their  efforts  are  not  checked  by  your  rash  attempts 
to  dictate  on  a  subject  of  which  it  is  impossible  that  you  can 
form  a  correct  judgment.  Forbear  your  inflammatory  ad 
dresses.  They  but  rivet  the  fetters  of  the  slaves,  and  render 
them  ten  thousand  times  more  galling.  You  sacrifice  his 
happiness,  as  well  as  that  of  his  owner,  for,  by  rendering  him 
an  object  of  suspicion  and  alarm,  you  deprive  him  of  the  re 
gard,  confidence,  and  I  may  add  with  the  utmost  truth,  the 
affection  of  his  master.  You  render  a  being  now  light-heart 
ed  and  joyous,  moody  and  wretched — Yes,  hopelessly  wretch 
ed.  You  wreak  on  the  innocent  and  helpless,  who,  had  they 
the  will,  possess  not  the  power  to  bid  the  slave  be  free  from 
all  his  imagined  wrongs.  You  agonize  gentle  bosoms,  which 
glow  with  Christian  charity  towards  the  whole  human  race,  of 
whatever  colour  they  may  be.  Fearful  forebodings  mingle 
with  all  a  mother's  deep,  imperishable  love,  as  the  matron 
bends  over  the  infant  that  smiles  in  her  face  ;  and  with  more 
shuddering  horror  she  trembles  as  she  gazes  on  the  daughters 
whose  youthful  beauty,  goodness,  and  grace  shed  the  sun 
shine  of  joy  and  hope  over  the  winter  of  life.  I  appeal  to 
you  as  Christians,  as  patriots,  as  men,  generous,  high-minded 
men,  to  forbear.  By  all  you  hold  sacred — by  your  own  feel 
ings  for  the  wives  of  your  bosom  and  the  children  of  your 
love,  pause  and  reflect  on  the  mischief  and  wo  you  seek  to 
inflict  on  both  the  white  and  coloured  population  of  the 
Southern  States." 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  159 

Moral  and  religious  instruction  of  slaves. 


CONVERSATION    XVI. 


"  A  general  emancipation  of  slaves,  to  be  consistent  with  such  a  regard  to 
their  good,  and  the  public  good,  as  humanity  and  religion  demand,  must 
plainly  be  the  work  of  time.  It  must  be  accomplished  by  a  wise  system  of 
moral  influence  and  of  proscripiive  legislation,  and  must  allow  opportunity 
for  a  preparatory  change  of  the  habits  of  a  whole  community-" 

President  Porter. 


'  You  have  intimated  in  former  conversations,'  said  Caroline, 
'  that  there  is  a  disposition  among  good  people  at  the  South, 
notwithstanding  the  power  with  which  their  laws  have  in 
vested  them  to  prevent  interference  on  the  part  of  strangers, 
still  to  treat  their  slaves  as  rational  beings,  and  to  give  them 
suitable  moral  and  religious  instruction.  I  wish  this  fact 
were  more  generally  known  at  the  North.' 

'There  is  certainly,'  said  Mr.  L.,  'a  pleasing  and  com 
mendable  spirit  exhibited,  after  all  the  precautionary  provi 
sions  of  legislative  acts,  by  the  Christian  community  at 
the  South,  in  respect  to  the  religious  instruction  of  their 
slaves.  I  have  before  me  a  letter  from  an  eminent  clergy 
man  of  Virginia,  a  part  of  which  1  will  read,  since  you  may 
from  such  sources  be  better  able  to  apprehend  the  true  feel 
ing  of  Christians  at  the  South,  and  the  actual  condition  of  the 
slaves : 

*  "To  give  you  an  idea  of  the  feeling  of  the  Christian  com- 


160  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Effort  at  the  South  for  the  instruction  of  slaves. 

munity  toward  that  unfortunate  class  of  people  which  we  have 
among  us,  I  would  refer  you  to  the  articles  which  appeared  in 
the  Religious  Telegraph  during  the  last  year,  signed,  'Zinzin- 
dorf,'  and  which  terminated  in  passing  a  resolution  in  the  Sy 
nod  of  Virginia,  recommending  every  church  in  the  State,  to  set 
apart  one  of  its  best  qualified  members,  whose  duty  it  shall 
be  to  give  religious  instruction  to  the  coloured  people.  And 
I  am  happy  to  state,  that  many  enter  upon  this  self-denying, 
though  pleasing  duty.  The  present  proprietor  of  Monti- 
cello,  (Jefferson's  seat,)  is  a  gentleman  of  first  rate  talents, 
wealthy,  and  a  man  of  influence.  He  has  entered  into  this 
business  with  all  his  heart.  He  has  enjoyed  a  very  liberal 
education;  but  he  thought  that  this  was  not  sufficient  to  in 
struct  the  poor  African  in  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel.  He 
is  preparing  himself  with  a  theological  course,  to  fit  him  the 
better  for  this  responsible  duty.  It  is  a  pleasing  fact,  that 
the  first  proprietor  of  Jefferson's  seat,  after  he  left  it,  should 
be  a  man  of  such  benevolent  and  devoted  piety. 

4  "We  hope  that  the  public  mind  is  fast  preparing  for  a 
general  emancipation,  and  that  the  Christian  community  will 
not  be  remiss  in  instructing  and  preparing  the  coloured  peo 
ple  for  the  colony.  The  redeeming  spirit  is  amongst  us,  I 
hope,  and  will  not  rest  till  every  slave  shall  be  restored  to 
the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  this  State  placed  upon  a  footing 
with  the  other  happy  States  of  our  Union,  who  know  not 
the  curses  of  slavery." 

4 1  have  also  before  me  a  letter  from  Georgia,  written  by  a 
distinguished  gentleman  to  his  friend,  on  the  same  subject, 
which  reads  as  follows  : 

4  "  With  regard  to  your  inquiries  about  the  religious  in 
struction  of  the  Negroes  of  the  South,  I  would  state,  that 
whilst  there  is  far  less  interest  on  this  subject  among  slave 
holders  than  there  should  be,  still  we  have  much  reason  to 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  161 

Religious  instruction  in  Georgia. 

be  grateful  for  what  is  doing,  and  for  Avhat  in  prospect  may 
be  done.  My  knowledge  on  this  subject  is  confined  to 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina ;  you  must  apply  to  other  gen 
tlemen  for  information  about  other  parts  of  the  Southern 
country.  I  visited  Bryan  county,  Georgia,  a  few  weeks 
since,  for  the  exclusive  purpose  of  seeing  what  was  doing 
there  for  the  Negroes.  On  one  plantation  I  found  the  slaves 
far  more  improved,  both  as  regards  their  temporal  comforts, 
and  their  religious  instruction,  than  I  had  expected  to  see. 
The  number  of  Negroes  on  this  plantation  is,  1  believe,  about 
two  hundred.  They  live  in  framed  houses,  raised  above  the 
ground — spacious,  and  in  every  way  comfortable,  and  calcu 
lated  to  promote  health.  The  Negroes  were  uniformly  clad  in 
a  very  decent  and  comfortable  way.  There  is  a  chapel  on  the 
place  where  the  master  meets  the  adults  every  night  at  the 
ringing  of  the  bell.  Reading  a  portion  of  Scripture,  and  ex 
plaining  it,  singing,  and  prayer,  constitute  the  regular  exer-. 
cises  of  every  night  in  the  week.  On  the  Sabbath  they  have 
different  and  more  protracted  exercises. 

*  "A  day  school  is  taught  by  two  young  ladies — embrac 
ing  all  the  children  under  twelve  or  fifteen  years  of  age. 
The  instruction  in  this  and  other  schools  in  the  county,  is 
oral,  of  course ;  but  it  was  gratifying  to  see  how  great  an 
amount  of  knowledge  the  children  had  acquired  in  a  few 
months.  A  Presbyterian  minister  of  Philadelphia  was  with 
me,  and  he  said,  in  unqualified  terms,  that  he  had  visited  no 
infant  schools  at  the  North  better  conducted — (this  one  of 
which  1  speak,  is  on  the  infant-school  system.)  Schools  on 
the  same  plan  are  now  established  on  the  several  other  plan 
tations  in  the  same  county.  And  I  think  I  may  say  there  is 
a  very  general  interest  getting  up  on  this  subject.  A  large 
portion  of  the  wealthy  planters  either  have  already,  or  conr 
template  building  churches  on  their  premises,  and  employing 
N  2 


162  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Religions  instruction  in  South  Carolina. 

chaplains  to  preach  to  their  slaves.  Several  I  could  mention 
who,  though  they  are  not  pious  themselves,  have  done  this 
already,  from  what  they  have  seen  of  the  beneficial  influence 
of  religious  instruction  on  the  slaves  of  other  plantations. 
Persons  at  a  distance  may  be  surprised  at  this  fact,  but  it  is 
so  in  a  number  of  cases  that  I  could  name,  if  it  were  neces 
sary.  Ministers  of  all  denominations  begin  to  awake  to  their 
duty  and  responsibility  on  this  subject.  Many  of  them  are 
now  devoting  themselves  wholly  to  this  portion  of  our  com 
munity  ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  every  Christian  master 
will  soon  be  brought  to  an  enlightened  sense  of  duty.  And 
if  we  are  allowed  to  prosecute  this  work  without  indiscreet 
interference  on  the  part  of  our  Northern  brethren,  I  feel  as 
sured  that  we  shall  see  the  Negroes  far  more  improved  in  a 
short  time  than  they  are  present." 

'  Of  the  religious  condition  of  the  slaves  in  South  Caroli 
na,  a  clergyman  in  that  State  writes : 

i  "  I  am  able  from  authentic  information  to  say,  that  of  the 
Jive  hundred  and  eighty  thousand,  which  compose  the  en 
tire  population  of  this  State,  about  sixty-seven  thousand  are 
members  in  the  Baptist,  Methodist,  Presbyterian,  and  Epis 
copalian  churches.  Of  these  communicants  more  ihm  forty 
thousand  are  slaves.  The  whole  slave  population  is  315,000. 
It  is  easily  seen,  therefore,  that  of  the  white  population  about 
one-seventh  are  church  members.  It  is  proper  these  facts 
should  come  into  the  estimate  of  the  religious  condition  and 
prospects  of  our  slaves.  In  New-England  there  are  twenty 
thousand,  and  in  the  free  states  a  hundred  and  twenty-thou 
sand  blacks.  I  should  be  glad  to  see  a  comparison  of  their 
religious  condition  with  that  of  our  slaves  in  this  one  item. 
Do  you  believe  that  one-twentieth  of  them  are  commu 
nicants  ?  And  do  you  believe  that  in  New-England  as  here, 
there  is  a  larger  proportion  of  black  than  white  communi- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  163 

Religious  instruction  in  South  Carolina. 

cants  ?     And  what  is  doing  there  to  improve  the  moral  condi 
tion  of  the  blacks  ? 

1  "The  religious  denominations  which  embrace  these  forty 
thousand  black  members,  are  engaged  earnestly,  if  not  to  the 
extent  of  their  ability,  to  bring  the  saving  -blessings  of  the 
gospel  to  the  souls  of  all  these  "heathen  among  ourselves." 
And  are  you  not  ready  to  say: — "  Go  on,  my  brethren,  and 
may  God  bless  you.  We  would  rejoice  to  help  you  if  we 
could:  but  if  we  cannot  HELP  YOU,  we  will  'LET  YOU 


*  At  the  convention  of  the  diocese  of  the  Episcopal  church 
in  South  Carolina,  in  1834,  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
take  into  consideration,  and  report  upon  the  subject  of  the 
religious  instruction  of  the  blacks,  at  the  next  convention. 
This  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  Bishop  was  requested  to 
address  a  pastoral  letter  to  the  diocese,  embracing  so  much  of 
the  report  of  the  committee  as  he  might  deem  expedient.  In 
compliance  with  this  request,  a  pastoral  letter  from  Bishop 
Bowen  was  published,  containing  much  valuable  and  appro 
priate  counsel  in  relation  to  the  subject,  urging  attention  to 
the  religious  instruction  of  slaves  as  the  imperative  duty  of  every 
master,  and  uniting  with  the  committee  of  the  convention  in 
recommending  measures  for  its  due  performance.  The  letter 
says,  the  persons  by  whom  the  work  of  instruction  should  be 
undertaken  are,  "  1st.  The  clergy  with  their  assistants  in  Sun 
day  schools.  2.  Lay  catechists  usefully  employed  in  the 
primitive  ages  of  the  church,  and  now  rendered  absolutely 
necessary  by  the  small  number  of  clergy.  3.  The  proprie 
tors  of  slaves  01  their  agents  or  overseers,  with  the  assistance 
of  their  families.  The  method  recommended  is : — 1.  The 
establishment  of  Sunday  schools,  with  lectures  on  portions 
of  Scripture  for  adults,  together  with  classes  of  candidates 
for  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  be  conducted  by  the 


164  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Religious  instruction  in  South  Carolina. 

minister.  2 .  The  employment  of  missionaries  for  the  coloured 
population.  One  of  the  clergy,  the  committee  trusts,  is  as  *  use 
fully  as  he  is  honourably  employed'  in  this  way,  on  the  planta 
tions  of  Messrs.  Clarkson  on  the  VVateree,  and  the  hope  is  ex 
pressed  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  '  when  the  Lord  will  put 
it  into  the  hearts  of  many  of  our  younger  clergy  to  devote  them 
selves  to  this  interesting  work.'  3.  The  proprietors  of  slaves 
are  urged  to  personal  labours  for  their  spiritual  improvement, 
and  each  one  is  recommended  in  relation  to  the  measures  pro 
posed,  to  'ask  himself  before  God,  is  not  this  my  duty? 
And  then  let  him  pursue  it,  convinced  that  however  great  his 
discouragement  may  be  at  first,  by  the  blessing  of  God  great 
good  must  ultimately  result.'  In  the  State  of  South  Caroli 
na  it  is  estimated  that  there  are  thirty  thousand  communi 
cants  belonging  to  the  slave  population.  '  Our  clergy,'  says 
a  zealous,  faithful,  and  highly  respectable  clergyman,  'ge-- 
nerally  pay  a  particular  attention  to  the  black  congregations. 
Many  of  them  give  the  entire  afternoon  of  the  Sabbath  to 
them.  Sunday  schools  among  them  are  almost  universally 
organized.'  It  is  also  well  known  that  in  religious  families, 
the  instruction  of  the  slaves  is  an  object  of  general  solici 
tude.  It  is  by  no  means  unusual  for  individual  planters,  or 
two  or  more  in  connexion,  to  support  a  chaplain  for  the  ex 
clusive  benefit  of  their  coloured  people." 

'I  might  multiply  proofs  of  a  disposition  prevailing  ex 
tensively  at  the  South  in  all  the  States  to  give  to  the  slaves 
religious  instruction,  and  all  practicable  religious  privileges. 
I  think  the  general  feeling  on  this  subject  is  greatly  misap 
prehended  in  the  non-slave-holding  States.  The  evils  of 
slavery  are  great,  but  they  ought  not  to  be  magnified  either 
by  representing  the  slaves  as  deprived  of  all  religious  pri 
vileges,  or  their  masters  as  destitute  of  Christian  benevolence 
and  the  feelings  of  humanity.  The  South  are  lamentably 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  165 



Colonization  tends  to  emancipation.  ^ 

. — . , 

deficient  in  this  point  after  all ;  but  I  wish  as  great  attention 
were  paid  to  the  souls  of  the  poor  blacks  in  every  free  State, 
as  they  receive  in  the  instances  to  which  we  have  referred  at 
the  South.' 

'  I  have  understood,  Sir,  that  an  effect  of  colonization, 
since  Liberia  is  becoming  better  known  as  the  home  of  the 
free,  is  an  increasing  disposition  and  desire  on  the  part  of 
slave-holders  to  emancipate  their  slaves,  that  they  may  find 
an  asylum  in  that  land  of  freedom.' 

*  Yes  ;  within  one  year  it  is  said  that  more  than  2, 000  slaves 
have  been  offered  the  Colonization  Society  from  five  different 
States,  with  the  desire  expressed  on  the  part  of  both  master 
and  slave,  for  a  passage  to  Liberia.  As  colonization  gains 
ground,  the  freedom  of  untold  thousands,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
will  be  secured,  and  Africa  gladdened  yet  more  and  more 
with  the  light  of  civilization  and  Christianity.' 

'  It  appears  morally  certain,'  said  Henry,  'that  the  bon 
dage  to  which  Africans  have  been  subjected,  by  being  torn 
away  from  Africa,  and  the  consequent  condition  of  many  of 
their  descendants,  will  be  overruled  by  a  wonder-working 
Providence  to  the  christianization  and  salvation  of  not  a  few. 
There  is  this  fact,  at  least,  to  abate  the  painful  sensations 
which  the  thought  of  slavery  occasions.' 

'  You  remind  me,'  said  Mr.  L.,  '  of  an  anecdote  which 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Brown,  of  St.  Petersburg,  recently  related,  in 
the  course  of  his  speech  at  the  anniversary  in  Boston  of  the 
Massachusetts  Missionary  Society.  I  will  endeavour  to  re 
peat  it,  although  I  cannot  give  it  the  interest  and  effect  pro 
duced  by  his  recital. 


166  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Anecdote. — Slavery  overruled  for  good. 

*  "  Among  a  number  of  slaves  who  had  been  re-captured 
by  a  British  ship,  and  sent  into  Sierra  Leone,  was  a  little 
boy  named  Tom,  who  had  by  the  slavers  been  separated 
from  his  father  and  mother,  and  who  became  an  object  of  the 
particular  regard  of  the  missionaries  at  that  station.  One 
day,  after  the  hour  of  instruction  had  passed,  the  voice  of 
this  little  boy  was  overheard  in  a  retired  place,  which  one  of 
the  missionaries  happened  to  pass.  The  missionary  at  first 
thought  Tom  to  be  in  dispute  with  some  of  his  companions, 
but  on  listening  was  surprised  and  overjoyed  to  find  him  ear 
nestly  engaged  in  prayer.  To  attempt  to  give  the  precise 
language  of  his  broken  petition,  might  make  it  ridiculous ; 
but  the  following  is  the  substance  of  it,  as  related  by  the 
missionary,  as  nearly  as  can  be  recollected : — '  O  God,  me  glad 
de  wicked  man  take  me ;  me  glad  King  George's  big  ship 
take  de  wicked  man ;  me  glad  me  brought  here,  where  de 
missionary  learn  me  to  know  God,  and  de  way  to  heaven. 
O  God,  me  have  one  great  favour  to  ask.  Me  pray  God 
send  more  wicked  man  to  take  my  father  and  mother.  Me 
pray  God  send  more  King  George's  big  ship  to  take  de 
wicked  man  and  bring  my  father  and  mother  here,  so  they 
may  learn  the  way  to  heaven,  and  father,  mother,  and  Tom, 
all  go  to  heaven  together.'  A  few  days  afterwards,  Tom 
was  seen  upon  the  shore,  anxiously  gazing  upon  the  bound 
less  ocean.  On  being  questioned  as  to  his  object,  he  said, 
'  Me  see  if  God  hear  prayer;  me  pray  God  send  my  father 
and  mother  here  ;  me  see  if  God  answer  Tom's  prayer.' 
Day  after  day,  full  of  faith  and  hope,  Tom  paid  a  visit  to 
the  sea  side.  Long  he  waited  for  an  answer  to  his  prayer 
of  faith,  and  his  father  and  mother  came  not.  Yet  Tom 
confided  in  the  faithfulness  of  the  God  whom  the  missionary 
had  taught  him  to  know  and  love,  till  one  day,  when  many 
months  had  expired,  he  came  running  to  the  missionary, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  167 

Christian  colonies  a  means  of  evangelizing  the  heathen. 

clapping  his  hands,  and  exclaiming  in  an  extacy  of  joy, 
1  God  answer  prayer — Christ  hear  Tom's  prayer — the  big 
ship  coming  to  bring  my  father  and  mother ;  O  Tom  glad 
God  hear  his  prayer.'  A  British  ship  had,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  made  its  appearance,  and  soon  after  landed  a 
party  of  slaves  re-captured  from  the  '  wicked  man,'  among 
whom  was  Tom's  father  and  mother."  ' 


'  God  can  indeed  bring  good  out  of  evil,'  said  Caroline, 
'  and  make  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him.  I  have  under 
stood,  Pa,  that  the  colony  at  Sierra  Leone,  although  not  so 
favourably  situated  as  that  in  Liberia,  is  prosperous  ;  and 
that  the  church  mission  at  Sierra  Leone  has  been  greatly 
blessed. 


Mr.  L.  replied,  '  If  I  recollect,  the  number  of  communi 
cants  at  the  church  missions  in  Sierra  Leone  is  between  400 
and  500 ;  attendants  on  public  worship,  3,000 ;  day  scho 
lars,  1,200.  The  divine  favour,  in  an  increasing  degree, 
appears  to  be  vouchsafed  to  the  missionaries. 

'  It  is  also  said  that  the  Wesleyans  have  penetrated  300 
miles  up  the  Gambia,  and  have  established  a  mission  in  the 
centre  of  the  Mandingo  and  Foulah  tribes.  Number  of 
members  "  in  society,"  about  800.  In  no  year  has  so  much 
been  done  for  African  colonization,  as  during  the  last,  and  to 
give  a  permanent  foundation  to  the  colonies.' 

'  I  believe,  Sir,'  said  Henry,  '  that  the  plan  of  spreading 
the  gospel  by  the  establishment  of  Christian  colonies  in 
heathen  lands,  is  beginning  to  be  thought  much  of?  It  ap 
pears  to  me  that  the  success  of  the  missions  to  Africa  will 
have  the  effect  to  recommend  it  greatly.' 


1  68  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Christian  colonies  a  means  of  evangelizing  the  heathen. 

Said  Mr.  L.,  '  the  Rev.  Mr.  Abeel,  missionary  to  China, 
has  remarked,  "  that  the  opinion  is  gaining  rapid  currency, 
especially  among  foreign  missionaries,  that  colonies,  Chris 
tian  colonies,  are  demanded  in  the  enterprise  of  evangeliz 
ing  the  heathen.  Possessed  of  the  proper  spirit,  their  influ 
ence  is  incalculable.  The  power  of  a  righteous  and  holy 
example,  irrespective  of  all  other  benefits,  would  give  to 
communities  of  this  kind  the  relative  importance  of  a  sun  to 
the  dark  spots  on  which  their  light  would  fall.  They  would 
present  to  the  heathen  in  an  embodied  form,  the  lovely  and 
attractive  feature  of  Christianity.  They  would  exemplify 
the  practicability  of  those  lessons  which  the  gospel  incul 
cates,  and  show  their  incomparable  superiority  over  all  their 
own  tenets  and  practices.  The  arts  and  customs  of  civilized 
life  could  in  this  manner  be  most  advantageously  introduced. 
All  the  useful  trades  and  occupations  among  us  could  be  em 
ployed  for  the  benefit  both  of  the  colonist  and  of  those  to 
whose  best  interests  they  had  devoted  themselves.  Added 
to  these,  and  perhaps  superior  to  them  all,  would  be  the 
direct  modes  of  bringing  truth  in  contact  with  the  minds  of 
the  heathen,  which  the  members  of  such  colonies  might 
employ,  and  which  might  be  multiplied  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  adult  colonists.  Oral  teaching — the  distribution 
of  books — the  instruction  of  the  young  in  seminaries  of 
every  variety — from  the  infant  school  through  all  the  inter 
mediate  departments — to  the  colleges  and  even  theological 
institutions,  would  employ  all  the  time  of  some,  and  the 
leisure  hours  of  others,  to  the  greatest  advantage.  One  or 
dained  missionary  could  keep  a  hundred  assistants  engaged, 
though  their  labours  were  the  most  signally  blessed.  That 
which  engrosses  the  missionary  is  the  simple  elementary 
instruction  in  Christianity,  which  any  layman  could  perform 
with  equal  propriety  and  effect.  Formal  preaching,  and  the 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  169 

Christian  Colonies. 

administration  of  the  sacraments  requires  but  one  man  to  a 
station.  If  the  children  of  such  colonists  were  sanctified 
to  the  great  work  in  which  all  around  them  were  employed, 
their  services  would  be  incalculable.  The  language  would 
come  to  them  by  intuition  and  in  its  perfection." 


170  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Freedom  alone  will  not  elevate  the  blacks. 


CONVERSATION   XVII. 


"  Tis  liberty  alone  that  gives  the  flow'r 

Of  fleeting  life  its  lustre  and  perfume  ; 

And  we  are  weeds  without  it.    All  constraint, 

Except  what  wisdom  lays  on  evil  men, 

Is  evil ;  hurts  the  faculties  ;  impedes 

Their  progress  in  the  road  of  science  ;  blinds 

The  eye-sight  of  discovery  :  and  begets 

In  those  who  suffer  it,  a  sordid  mind, 

Bestial,  a  meagre  intellect,  unfit 

To  be  the  tenant  of  man's  noble  form." — Cowper. 


*  AFTER  all,  Pa,  it  appears  to  me,'  said  Henry,  '  that  it  is 
more  than  freedom  that  is  necessary  to  raise  the  African  in 
the  scale  of  being,  and  make  him  respected  and  happy. 
How  many  Negroes  there  are  in  this  country  that  are  free, 
and  yet  are  quite  as  degraded  as  the  slaves !  Emancipation, 
it  seems  to  me,  is  but  a  small  part  of  the  duty  to  which  hu 
manity  calls  us.' 

*  Yes,  Pa,'  snid  Caroline,  '  I  have  thought  that  the  blacks, 
even  at  the  North,  are  generally  very  degraded  and  misera 
ble  ;  and  I  have  been  told  that  the  free  blacks  at  the  South 
are  even  more  grovelling  and  abandoned  in  their  morals  than 
the  slaves.' 

1  It  is  true,  my  children,  that  whilst  there  are  in  the  United 
States  300,000  persons  of  African  origin  who  have  the  name 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  171 

Strange  that  they  are  not  even  more  depraved. 

of  being  free,  they  are  generally  wretched.  But  we  should 
remember  that  is  because  invincible  prejudice  is  continually 
pressing  them  down,  and  paralyzing  all  the  energies  of  their 
nature.  There  are  circumstances  which  seem  to  check  and 
utterly  forbid,  in  most  cases,  every  rising  emotion  of  ambi 
tion.  They  have,  in  truth,  neither  home,  country,  or  motive 
to  effort.  Let  the  white  man  be  similarly  situated,  genera 
tion  after  generation  growing  up  in  ignorance  and  disgrace  ; 
and  see  if,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  he  and  his  descendants  are 
not  wretched,  their  thoughts  grovelling,  and  morals  aban 
doned.' 

*  Why,  as  to  that,  I  do  not  think  the  blacks  are  more  de 
graded  than  many  whites.     I  have  heard  it  remarked,  that 
at  the  South  even  the  slaves  consider  it  a  degradation  to  as 
sociate  with  the  lowest  class  of  whites.3 

*  It  has  been  said  that,  at  the  South,  there  are  three  great 
classes — the  respectable  whites,  the  negroes,  and  the  igno 
rant,  or  vicious  and  degraded  whites ;  the  last  being  lowest 
on  the  scale  of  respectability  and  moral  worth.    At  the  South, 
the  line  of  demarkation  is  more  clearly  drawn  between  the 
respectable  and  the  degraded,  than  in  the  Northern  States. 
The  white  man  who,  at  the  South,  cannot  find  a  comfortable 
support,  and  maintain  a  respectable  standing  in  society,  is 
generally  obnoxious  to  the  suspicion  of  other  causes  of  po 
verty  and  degradation  than  misfortune ;  whilst  there  is  far 
greater  equality  than  with  us,  among  the  respectable  portion 
of  the  community. 

*  To  return  to  your  remark,  about  the  unhappy  condition 
of  the  free  blacks.     We  admit  that  it  is  correct;  but  let  me 
ask  if  it  is  not  strange  that  the  blacks  are  not  even  more  de 
graded  than  they  are.     I  do  not  think  that  either  free  or  slave 
will  suffer  in  comparison  with  the  whites,  allowing  for  all 


172  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

No  stimulus  to  effort,  and  opportunity  for  distinction. 

the  circumstances  which  have  led  to  the  present  condition  of 
the  blacks.  The  free,  however,  it  must  be  confessed,  are  ge 
nerally  more  sunken  to  a  level  with  the  brute,  than  the  slave. 
They  are,  as  a  whole,  exceeding  corrupt,  depraved,  and 
abandoned.  There  are  many  honourable  exceptions  among 
them,  and  it  is  often  a  pleasure  which  I  enjoy  of  bearing  tes 
timony  to  these  exceptions ;  but  the  vicious  and  degraded 
habits  and  propensities  of  this  class,  are  known  to  every  man 
of  attentive  observation. 

1  The  characters  of  men  for  active  industry,  enterprise, 
and  external  morality,  to  say  the  least,  always  depend,  more 
than  is  generally  supposed,  upon  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  are  placed.  Among  the  causes  which,  probably,  ope 
rate  most  powerfully  on  the  character,  is  early  encourage 
ment.  The  child  who  is  taught  to  expect  and  attempt  great 
things,  is  most  likely  to  imbibe  a  generous  spirit  of  enter 
prise.  It  is  the  encouragement,  the  hope  of  attaining  to 
some  degree  of  excellence  or  measure  of  prosperity,  which 
is  wont  to  develope  genius  and  make  the  man.  But  what 
hopes  are  before  the  minds  of  the  children  of  our  coloured 
population,  as  motives  to  aim  at  an  elevated  standing  in  so 
ciety  ?  What  honourable  employment  to  which  the  genius 
might  happen  to  be  suited,  can  be  promised  ?  To  what  cir 
cle  of  friendship  and  respectability,  whose  cultivated  minds 
and  purity  of  morals  may  operate  as  a  stimulus,  can  the  chil 
dren  of  a  coloured  skin  be  introduced  ?  Can  the  parents  of 
those  children,  affording  powerful  motives  in  their  own  suc 
cess  and  example,  point  to  the  successful  merchant,  the  distin 
guished  statesman,  the  eminent  scholar,  or  physician,  or 
divine,  and  say,  you  have  the  prospect  of  rising,  with  equal 
industry  and  merit,  to  a  level  with  those  ?  Alas !  they  must, 
at  best,  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water.  The  bar, 
the  pulpit,  the  legislative  hall,  the  circles  of  refinement,  and 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  173 

Cannot  rise  or  he  happy, here. 

respectability,  and  honour,  are  shut  to  them,  by  that  which  is 
irresistible — the  force  of  public  sentiment.  They  are  de 
nied,  by  invincible  prejudice,  the  advantages  of  other  free 
men,  and  no  talents  however  great,  no  piety  however  pure 
and  devoted,  no  patriotism  however  ardent,  can  lift  them 
above  this  cruel  fate.  They  hear  the  accents,  they  behold 
the  triumphs,  of  liberty ;  but  they  cannot  enjoy  it  as  do  we. 
In  all  the  walks  of  life,  in  every  society,  on  every  path  which 
lies  before  others  to  honour  and  fame  and  glory,  a  moral  in 
cubus  pursues  and  fastens  upon  them.  A  great  man  among 
ourselves,  has  said,  "Their  condition  is  worse  than  that 
of  the  fabled  Tantalus,  who  never  could  grasp  the  fruits 
and  water  which  seemed  within  his  reach.  And  when  they 
die, 

'  Memory  o'er  their  tomb  no  trophies  raises.'  " 

'  Their  degradation  is  the  natural  consequence  of  their  un 
fortunate  situation,  and  not  the  result  of  any  inherent  de 
pravity  in  their  natural  constitution,  or  of  deficiency  of  men 
tal  faculties. 

'They  are  capable,  I  verily  believe,  (and  I  hope  that  by 
observation  and  by  reading,  if  not  by  our  conversations,  this 
conviction  will  be  fastened  on  your  mind,)  of  the  finest  sen 
sibilities  as  we  are ;  as  capable  of  appreciating  and  enjoying 
the  endearing  relations  and  blessings  of  life;  as  capable  of 
self-government,  and  eminent  attainments  in  knowledge,  use 
fulness,  piety,  and  respectability.  But  do  what  they  will,  there 
is  here,  comparatively,  only  one  prospect  before  them.  This 
is  true  in  respect  to  the  free  Negro,  and  it  cannot  be  sup 
posed  to  be  otherwise  in  respect  to  the  slave.' 

'  It  seems  to  me  that  we  can  hardly  hope,  under  such  cir 
cumstances,  that  they  will  ever  be,  in  this  country,  what  they 


174  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Claims  of  the  American  Colonization  Society. 

should  desire  to  be,  and  aspire  after.  And  this  is  the  reason, 
I  suppose,  why  so  many  who  appear  to  feel  for  their  unhap 
py  condition,  are  in  favour  of  their  colonizing  in  Africa?' 

4  It  is  for  this  reason,  and  also  for  others  in  connexion — 
the  benefits  that  will  result  to  Africa  from  such  an  enterprise, 
and  the  best  interests  of  our  own  country — that  African  co 
lonization  is  warmly  advocated  by  many.  The  object  is 
thought  to  have  powerful  claims  to  our  best  and  warmest 
wishes,  and  untiring  efforts,  whether  we  consult  the  best  in 
terests  of  the  free  blacks,  the  slaves,  the  whites,  or  the  many 
millions  scattered  over  the  dark  continent  of  Africa.' 

*  I  do  not  see  why  they  should  desire,  under  such  cir 
cumstances,  to  remain,  or  why  any  should  oppose  their  loca 
tion  on  a  more  genial  soil.  Why  should  they  not  wish  to  go 
to  the  country  of  their  forefathers  ?' 

*I  am  by  no  means  a  party  man,  in  respect  to  this  subject, 
and  I  hope  not  on  any  subject;  but  I  acknowledge  that  the 
AMERICAN  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY  has  claims  to  my  high  re 
gard  and  best  desires  for  its  success  and  prosperity.  There 
is  much  need,  doubtless,  of  that  wisdom  which  God  imparts 
to  them  that  seek  it,  to  direct  in  this  matter,  for  great  inte 
rests  are  involved,  and  the  question  is  exceeding  complicate 
in  its  bearings.  There  is  need  also  of  a  spirit  of  meekness, 
and  kindness,  and  forbearance,  in  its  discussion.' 

'  You  feel  confident  then,  Pa,  that  the  blacks,  if  coloniz 
ed,  will  do  well  in  their  fathers'  native  land  ?' 

4 1  can  have  no  reasonable  doubt  on  this  subject.  Place 
them  where  they  may  call  the  land  their  own,  where,  to  use 
the  language  of  a  distinguished  and  eloquent  statesman  of 
another  country,  "  they  will  stand  redeemed,  regenerated, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  175 

Prejudices  against  Africans. 

and  disenthralled  by  the  mighty  genius  of  universal  emanci 
pation,"  and  they  will  commence  a  new  life.  Many  who 
were  fully  sensible  to  the  humiliation  of  their  condition  here, 
are  at  this  moment  worthy  and  independent  citizens  in  the 
country  of  their  forefathers.' 

'  It  seems  cruel  that  remaining  in  this  country,  they  are 
destined  to  be  for  ever  proscribed  and  debased  by  our  pre 
judices  ;  and  yet,  for  all  that  we  can  foresee,  such  must  be 
the  consequence  unless  public  sentiment  undergoes  an  entire 
change.  At  the  South,  the  African  is  held  in  physical 
bondage ;  at  the  North,  prejudice  consigns  him  to  a  moral 
debasement,  by  which  he  cannot  but  feel  that  he  is  deeply 
injured.  It  is  a  painful  subject — and  who  shall  determine 
where  the  line  of  duty  shall  be  drawn  ?  If  we  refer  to  the 
Scriptures,  a  diversity  of  sentiment  remains  even  among 
good  people,  for  they  differ  in  their  interpretations  and  con 
structions  of  duty.  I  know  that  I  have  what  are  called  pre 
judices,  and  still  I  think  I  am  sincerely  disposed  to  befriend 
the  cause  of  the  oppressed  Negro.  Some  views  have  been 
imputed  to  some  friends  of  Africans,  at  which  my  mind  re 
coils — and  this  I  suppose  is  what  is  denominated  prejudice/ 

*  There  appears  to  exist  in  the  breasts  of  white  men  in 
this  country,  generally,  a  prejudice  against  the  colour  of  the 
African,  which  nothing  short  of  divine  power  can  remove. 
How  far  this  difference  between  ourselves  and  the  blacks 
should  influence  our  intercourse  with  them  in  political  life 
or  in  respect  to  the  sociabilities  of  the  friendly  circle,  I  shall 
not  here  assert.  I  have  my  own  views  on  this  subject.  It 
becomes  me,  however,  to  admit  that  some  great  and  good 
men  have  gone  to  wide  extremes  on  this  question.  Dr. 
Philip,  the  able  and  distinguished  missionary  in  South  Af 
rica,  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  in  a  letter  to  a  be- 


176  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Distinctions  on  account  of  colour. 

nevolent  association  of  students  at  the  Princeton  Theologi 
cal  Seminary,  says,  "  It  gives  us  a  frightful  view  of  human 
nature,  that  the  injuries  we  have  done  to  that  race  of  men, 
should  be  the  ground  of  our  hatred  against  them ;  and  that 
that  hatred  should  be  evident  in  proportion  to  the  cruelty 
and  injustice  they  have  suffered  at  our  hands."  *  *  *  "  As  our 
children,  it  is  hoped,"  he  continues,  "  will  be  more  inno 
cent  of  the  crimes  committed  against  Africa,  than  we  are, 
so  we  hope  they  will  cherish  towards  Africa  a  more  kindly 
feeling  than  we.  There  was  no  prejudice  against  colour 
when  Egypt  was  the  cradle  of  literature  and  science,  nor  in 
the  days  when  the  Grecian  and  Roman  republics  were  in 
their  glory  ;  and  these  prejudices  will,  most  certainly,  pass 
away,  as  the  principles  of  the  gospel  prevail." ' 

1 1  believe  the  same  prejudice  does  not  exist,  in  the  same 
degree,  in  other  countries,  does  it,  Pa  ?' 

4  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  we  republicans  are,  in  this  mat 
ter,  far  more  exclusive  in  our  feelings  than  our  monarchical 
neighbours.  In  England,  it  is  common  to  see  respectable 
and  genteel  people,  open  their  pews  when  a  black  stranger 
enters  the  church ;  and,  at  hotels,  nobody  thinks  it  a  degra 
dation  to  have  a  coloured  traveller  sit  at  the  same  table. 

4 1  have  heard  a  well-authenticated  anecdote,  which  illus 
trates  the  different  state  of  feeling  in  the  two  countries  on 
this  subject. 

'  "  A  wealthy  American  citizen  was  residing  in  London 
for  a  season,  at  the  time  the  famous  Prince  Saunders  was 
there.  The  London  breakfast  hour  is  very  late  ;  and  Mr. 
Saunders  happened  to  call  on  the  American  while  his  family 
were  taking  their  morning  repast.  Politeness  and  native 
good  feelings  prompted  the  good  lady  to  ask  their  guest  to 
take  a  cup  of  coffee  ;  but  then,  the  prejudices  of  society — 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  177 

Less  prejudice  in  other  countries. 

how  could  she  get  over  them  ?  True,  he  was  a  gentleman 
in  character,  manners,  and  dress — but  he  had  a  black  skin, 
and  how  could  she  sit  at  the  same  table  with  him !  His  skin 
being  black,  it  was  altogether  out  of  the  question,  although 
it  is  possible  a  black  character  is  not  always  so  great  a  diffi 
culty  in  the  way  of  asking  a  man  to  eat  with  one  !  So  the 
lady  sipped  her  coffee,  and  Prince  Saunders  sat  at  the  win 
dow,  occasionally  speaking  in  reply  to  the  conversation  ad 
dressed  to  him.  At  last,  all  others  having  retired  from  the 
breakfast  table,  the  lady,  with  an  affected  air  of  sudden  re 
collection,  said,  '  I  forgot  to  ask  if  you  had  breakfasted, 
Mr.  Saunders ;  won't  you  allow  me  to  give  you  a  cup  of 
coffee  ?'  « I  thank  you,  Madam,'  was  the  reply,  with  a  dig 
nified  bow, '  /  am  engaged  to  breakfast  with  the  Prince 
Regent,  this  morning.  "  ' 


178  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Free  Mark*  more  degraded  luan  nhives. 


CONVERSATION   XVIII. 


"  It  is  not  easy  to  discern  any  object  to  which  the  pecuniary  resources  of 
the  Union  can  he  applied,  of  greater  importance  to  the  national  security 
and  welfare,  than  to  provide  ibr  the  removal,  in  a  manner  consistent  with 
the  rights  and  interests  of  the  several  States,  of  the  free  coloured  popula 
tion  within  their  limits." — Gen.  Mercer. 


*  IN  our  last  conversation,  we  noticed  the  general  degrada 
tion  of  blacks  in  this  country.  The  circumstance  that  there 
are  so  few  blacks  that,  with  their  freedom,  avoid  poverty 
and  vice,  nobly  resisting  the  natural  tendency  of  their  con 
dition,  has  led  some  to  suppose  that  however  undesirable 
in  itself  slavery  may  be,  the  blacks  generally  gain  little,  and 
in  most  instances,  are  great  losers,  by  emancipation  ! 

4  It  has  been  asserted  that,  of  free  blacks  collected  in  our 
cities  and  large  towns,  a  great  portion  are  found  in  abodes  of 
wretchedness  and  vice,  and  become  tenants  of  poor-houses 
and  prisons.  As  a  proof  of  the  tendency  of  their  condition, 
the  following  striking  facts  among  others,  ascertained  a  year 
or  two  since,  have  been  mentioned  :  In  Massachusetts, 
where  the  coloured  population  is  small,  being  less  than 
7,000  souls,  (only  l-74th  part  of  the  whole  population,) 
ICT3  about  l-6th  part  of  the  whole  number  of  convicts  in 
the  state-prison  are  blacks.  In  Connecticut,  l-34th  part  of 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  179 

Alarming  proportion  ot  crane  among  1'ree  blacks. 

the  population  is  coloured,  and  Id/01  l-3d  part  of  the  con 
victs.  In  New-York,  l-35th  part  are  blacks;  |C7CI>  l-4th 
part  of  the  convicts  in  the  city  state-prison  are  blacks.  In 
New-Jersey,  the  proportion  is  l-13th  coloured;  and  of  the 
convicts  l-3d.  In  Pennsylvania,  l-34th  part  of  a  popula 
tion  of  more  than  a  million  of  souls,  is  coloured ;  and  more 
than  one-third  part  of  the  convicts  are  black. 

'  I  need  not  pursue  these  illustrations  of  the  degradation 
of  the  free  blacks   in  the  non-slave-holding-  States.     It  ap 
pears  from  these  statements,  which  I  find  in  the  First  Annual 
Report  of  the  Prison   Discipline  Society,  that  about  one 
quarter  part  of  all  the  expense  incurred  by  these   States  for 
the  support  of  their  institutions  for  criminals   is  for  colour 
ed  convicts.     The  bill  of  expense  in   three  of  these  States 
stands  thus  :  that  is,  the  expense  for  the  support  of  coloured 
convicts  for  the  specified  number  of  years  preceding  the  re 
port  from  which  this  schedule  is  made,  is  in 
Massachusetts,  10  years,     -       -    $17,734 
Connecticut,       15     "    -     -       -      37,166 
New-York,         27     "    -     -       -    109,166  in  one  prison. 


$164,066 

JC7*  This  sum  was  expended  in  an  average  of  less  than 
eighteen  years,  on  convicts  from  among  a  population  of  only 
54,000  coloured  persons. 

*  Illustrations,  borrowed  from  the  criminal  statistics  of  the 
South,  would  place  this  matter  in  a  far  more  unfavourable 
light.     References  to  the   expenses  for  the  maintenance  of 
paupers,  would  give  a  similar  result. 

*  Another  consideration,  and  one  of  great  weight  with  our 
Southern  brethren,  in  leading  them  to  deprecate  the  exist 
ence  and  increase  of  a  coloured   population  in  their  midst, 
is  the  contaminating  influence  which  this  class  spread  among 


180  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Either  colonization  or  slavery  necessary  for  the  present. 

the  poor  and  degraded  around  them.  Prostrate  and  wretch 
ed  themselves,  through  the  peculiarity  of  their  almost  hope 
less  circumstances,  they  are  a  source  of  envy  and  restless 
anxiety  to  the  slave,  who,  seeing  them  free  from  domestic 
restraint  and  witnessing  the  facilities  with  which  they  are 
enabled  to  indulge  their  various  propensities,  are  tempted, 
and  corrupted,  and  often  ruined  by  the  contagious  influence. 
Hence,  some  of  the  severest  provisions  of  the  law,  and  the 
most  cruel  restraints  to  which  slavery  is  subjected — and 
hence  too  the  early  discouragement,  and  of  late  years  the 
absolute  prohibition  of  emancipation  except  under  seve"re 
restrictions,  in  the  Southern  States.' 

'  I  recollect  having  been  very  much  shocked  sometime 

since  at  the  remark  of  Gen.  H ,  that  "it  would  have 

been  better  for  the  free  blacks  had  they  been  kept  in  bond 
age,  where  the  opportunity  and  the  inducements  to  vice 
would  not  have  been  so  great."  I  did  not  at  the  time  ap 
preciate  the  remark.' 

'  Such  is  the  opinion  of  many,  who  I  am  sure  are  no  ad 
vocates  for  slavery,  and  who  have  made  sacrifices  to  their 
good  feelings  towards  the  African,  both  slave  and  free.  "  I 
am  clear,"  says  a  distinguished  Virginian,  who  feels  a  deep 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  our  coloured  population,  "  that 
whether  we  consider  it  with  reference  to  the  welfare  of  the 
State,  or  the  happiness  of  the  blacks,  it  were  better  to  leave 
them  in  chains,  than  to  liberate  them  to  receive  such  freedom 
as  they  enjoy."' 

'  The  condition  of  slaves  themselves,  I  suppose,  would 
be  much  ameliorated  by  the  removal  of  those  that  are  freed, 
and  I  should  suppose  that  no  one  can  doubt  that  our  free 
black  population  may  find  themselves  much  more  favourably 
located  in  a  community  by  themselves.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  181 

Colonization  ameliorates  the  condition  of  the  slave. 

I  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  colonization  has  a  tendency 
to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  slave  ;  and  that  it  is  well 
calculated  to  hasten  the  time  when  all  shall  go  free  who  are 
*iow  oppressed.     It  has  long  been  a  source  of  regret  among 
many  discerning,  and  well-informed,  and   Christian  people, 
to  my  own  knowledge,   that  they  cannot  free  their  slaves 
without  adding  to  their  wretchedness — throwing,  as  it  were, 
loose  on  the  community  so  many  materials  to  be  manufac 
tured  into  every  form  of  indolence,  degradation  and  vice.' 

I 1  suppose,  Pa,'   said    Henry,    '  that   if  the  immediate 
emancipation  of  the  whole  slave  population  were  to  be  ef 
fected,  the   situation  of  the  whites  at  the   South  would  be 
very  far  from  enviable  ?' 

1  It  is  thought  by  the  South,  and  by  many  at  the  North, 
that  immediate  emancipation  would  render  it  necessary  for 
the  whites  to  exterminate  the  blacks,  or  abandon  the  south 
ern  soil.  The  late  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  West  India 
colonies  is  pleaded  as  a  refutation  of  this  idea ;  but  those 
who  are  best  qualified  to  judge,  assert  that  the  emancipation 
of  slaves  upon  the  West  India  estates,  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  the  immediate  emancipation  of  two  millions  of 
slaves  in  the  southern  country ;  and  that,  without  raising 
the  question  of  the  ultimate  effect  upon  the  whites  in  the 
West  Indies,  the  banishment  of  the  blacks,  or  the  expa 
triation  or  annihilation  of  the  whites  would  be  the  necessary 
consequence  in  this  country.' 

*  The  duty  of  immediate  emancipation,'  said  'Caroline, 
*  would  be  very  plain,  I  suppose,  if  the  continuance  of  the 
system  is  wrong  under  any  circumstances.  The  aboli 
tionists,  I  believe,  view  slavery  in  ^11  xiases,  as  a  sin  ;  and 

p 


1  82  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Immediate  and  universal  emancipation  ruinous. 

suppose  it  is  hardly  proper  to  advise  leaving  off  sin  gra 
dually,  as  convenience  dictates.' 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Fisk,  President  of  the  Methodist  Univer 
sity  in  Middletown,'  said  Mr.  L.,  '  illustrates  the  conse 
quence  of  carrying  out  the  views  of  our  abolitionist  breth 
ren,  by  the  following  anecdote  : — 

"  The  eccentric  Lorenzo  Dow,  had  by  building  a  mill- 
dam  across  a  stream  flooded  his  neighbour's  grounds 
above  the  dam.  They  commenced  a  suit  against  him,  and 
obtained  a  verdict  in  their  favour,  on  the  principle  that  he 
was  invading  their  rights.  This  verdict  convinced  Lorenzo 
that  every  moment  he  kept  the  water  in  its  present  position 
he  was  guilty  of  a  legal  sin  :  and  on  the  ground  that  every 
man  should  quit  sinning  immediately,  he  at  once  became  a 
convert  to  the  doctrine  of  immediate  abolition.  He  accord 
ingly  went  to  work  and  forthwith  abolished  (or  demolished) 
his  milldam.  The  immediate  consequence  of  letting  off  so 
large  a  quantity  of  water  at  once,  was  the  deluging  of  the 
country  below,  and  a  great  destruction  of  property.  And 
Lorenzo  was  taught  by  a  second  prosecution  and  assess 
ment  of  damages,  that  his  immediate  abolition  had  led  him 
into  a  greater  sin  than  he  was  guilty  of  before." 

'  We  have  already  noticed,'  Mr.  L.  continued,  'the  con 
dition  of  the  free  black  population  in  several  of  the  most 
highly  favoured  States  in  the  Union.  Let  me  advert  to  a  few 
other  facts :  In  the  State  of  Virginia  the  free  coloured  people  are 
not  less  than  38,000 ;  and  yet  of  this  number,  not  200  are 
proprietors  of  land!  Again,  look  at  their  unwelcome  re 
ception  wherever  they  go,  among  the  whites  ;  and  consider 
the  fact  that  their  presence  is  regarded  as  an  evil  wherever 
they  are.  In  some  States,  they  are  prevented  from  going 
by  enactments  which  expose  them  to  a  forfeiture  of  their 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  183 

Baltimore  memorial. 

freedom  if  they  should  dare  to  set  foot  upon  the  soil.  Lou 
isiana,  sometime  since,  required  all  free  persons  of  colour 
who  had  removed  to  the  State  since  the  year  1825,  to  leave 
it.  Thousands  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Ohio,  driven  out 
from  that  State,  sought  a  home  in  Canada;  but  the  result  is 
that  the  Canadians,  in  their  turn,  have  threatened  their  expul 
sion.  They  are  laid  under  restrictions  which  cannot  but  be 
exceeding  painful,  in  most  of  the  States  both  North  and 
South  ;  and  in  none  do  they  enjoy  any  thing  much  better 
than  a  mere  nominal  freedom.  Various  expedients  are  re 
sorted  to  by  the  State  legislatures  to  free  themselves  from  a 
free  coloured  population,  by  disabilities  and  other  embarrass 
ments.  Every  State  seems  to  cherish  a  disposition  to  be 
free  from  a  free  black  population.  The  South  casts  them 
off — the  North  has  no  place  for  them — the  West  pushes 
them  away — Canada  expels  them — and  where  shall  they 
go  ?  What  shall  they  do  ? 

*  They  are  here  insulated  from  the  world  ;  they  have  no 
home  of  their  own  ;  no  community  of  their  own  ;  no  coun 
try  of  their  own  ;  no  government  of  their  own  ;  no  system 
whatever,  intellectual  or  moral,  in  which  their  individual  ex 
istence  forms  a  part  of  the  machinery.  Every  cheerful  hope 
is  crushed — they  are,  I  was  going  to  say,  dislocated  from 
humanity. 

'  The  free  people  of  colour  in  Baltimore,  seem  to  have 
taken  a  correct  but  painful  view  of  this  subject,  in  a  memo 
rial  which  is  now  before  me :  they  say,  to  the  citizens  of 
Baltimore, 

"  We  have  hitherto  beheld,  in  silence,  but  with  intense 
interest,  the  efforts  of  the  wise  and  philanthropic  in  our  be 
half.  If  it  became  us  to  be  silent,  it  became  us  also  to  feel 
the  liveliest  anxiety  and  gratitude.  The  time  has  now  ar 
rived,  as  we  believe,  in  which  your  work  and  our  happiness 


184  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Baltimore  memorial. 

may  be  promoted  by  the  expression  of  our  opinions.  *  *  * 
We  reside  among  you,  and  yet  are  strangers  ;  natives,  and 
yet  not  citizens  ;  surrounded  by  the  freest  people  and  most 
republican  institutions  in  the  world,  and  yet  enjoying  none 
of  the  immunities  of  freedom.  This  singularity  in  our  con 
dition  has  not  failed  to  strike  us  as  well  as  you  :  but  we 
know  it  is  irremediable  here.  Our  difference  of  colour,  the 
servitude  of  many  and  most  of  our  brethren,  and  the  pre 
judices  which  those  circumstances  have  naturally  occasion 
ed,  will  not  allow  us  to  hope,  even  if  we  could  desire,  to 
mingle  with  you,  one  day,  in  the  benefits  of  citizenship. 
As  long  as  we  remain  among  yon,  we  must  (and  shall)  be 
content  to  be  a  distinct  caste,  exposed  to  the  indignities  and 
dangers,  physical  and  moral,  to  which  our  situation  makes 
us  liable.  All  that  we  may  expect,  is  to  merit  by  our  peace 
able  and  orderly  behaviour,  your  consideration  and  the  pro 
tection  of  the  laws. 

"  It  is. not  to  be  imputed  to  you  that  we  are  here.  Your 
ancestors  remonstrated  against  the  introduction  of  the  first 
of  our  race,  who  were  brought  amongst  you ;  and  it  was 
the  mother  country  that  insisted  on  their  admission,  that 
her  colonies  and  she  might  profit,  as  she  thought,  by  their 
compulsory  labour.  *  *  Leaving  out  all  considerations  of 
generosity,  humanity,  and  benevolence,  you  have  the  strong 
est  reasons  to  favour  and  facilitate  the  withdrawal  from 
among  you  of  such  as  wish  to  remove.  *  *  *  *  But  if  you 
have  every  reason  to  wish  for  our  removal,  haw  much 
greater  are  our  inducements  to  remove  ?  Though  we  are 
not  slaves,  we  are  not  free.  *  *  Beyond  a  mere  subsistence, 
and  the  impulse  of  religion,  there  is  nothing  to  arouse  us  to 
the  exercise  of  our  faculties,  or  excite  us  to  the  attainment 
of  eminence.  Though  under  the  shield  of  your  laws,  we 
are  partially  protected,  not  totally  oppressed  j.  nevertheless, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  185 


Baltimore  memorial. 


our  situation  will  and  must  inevitably  have  the  effect  of 
crushing,  not  developing  the  capacities  that  God  has  given 
us.  We  are,  besides,  of  opinion,  that  our  absence  will  ac 
celerate  the  liberation  of  such  of  our  brethren  as  are  in 
bondage,  by  the  permission  of  Providence.  When  such  of 
us  as  wish,  and  may  be  able,  shall  have  gone  before  to  open 
and  lead  the  way,  a  channel  will  be  left,  through  which  may 
be  poured  such  as  hereafter  receive  their  freedom  from  the 
kindness  or  interests  of  their  masters,  or  by  public  opinion 
and  legislative  enactment,  and  who  are  willing  to  join  us 
who  have  preceded  them.  *  *  * 

"  Of  the  many  schemes  that  have  been  proposed,  we 
must  approve  of  that  of  AFRICAN  COLONIZATION.  If  we 
were  able  and  at  liberty  to  go  whithersoever  we  would,  the 
greater  number,  willing  to  leave  this  community,  would  pre 
fer  LIBERIA,  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  *  *  We  shall  carry  your 
language,  your  customs,  your  opinions,  and  Christianity  to 
that  now  desolate  shore,  and  thence  they  will  gradually 
spread  AV ith  our  growth,  far  into  the  continent.  The  slave- 
trade,  both  external  and  internal,  can  be  abolished  only  by 
settlements  on  the  coast.  *  *  *  We  foresee  that  difficulties 
and  dangers  await  those  who  emigrate,  such  as  every  infant 
establishment  must  encounter  and  endure.  *  *  *  *  But 
4  Ethiopia  shall  lift  her  hands  unto  God.' 

"  Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  poorer  than  we,  an 
nually  emigrate  from  Europe  to  your  country,  and  soon 
have  it  in  their  power  to  hasten  the  arrival  of  those  they 
left  behind.  *  *  *  *  *  If  we  were  doubtful  of  your  good 
will  and  benevolent  intentions,  we  would  remind  you  of  the 
time  when  you  were  in  a  situation  similar  to  ours,  and  when 
your  forefathers  were  driven  by  religious  persecution,  to  a 
distant  and  inhospitable  shore.  *  *  An  empire  may  be  the 
result  of  our  emigration,  as  of  theirs.  The  protection,. 

p2 


186  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Embarkation  of  colonists. 


kindness,  and  assistance  which  you  would  have  desired  for 
yourselves  under,  such  circumstances,  now  extend  to 
us,"  &c. 

'  This  memorial,  of  which  I  have  given  the  greater  part, 
was  adopted  at  meetings  of  "respectable  free  people  of  co 
lour,  held  in  the  Bethel"  and  African  churches,  which 
meetings  were  composed  of  "  several  denominations,  from 
every  part  of  the  city."  The  memorial  is  a  well  written 
document,  and  cannot  be  read  without  interest.' 

'  There  is,*  said  Henry,  '  a  wide  field  for  enterprise  in 
Africa,  and  for  Christian  effort ;  if  I  were  an  African,  I 
think  I  should  not  hesitate  to  go.' 

4 1  was  exceedingly  interested  a  few  years  since  to  wit* 
ness  the  embarkation  of  emigrants  from  one  of  our  princi 
pal  ports  ;  and  was  surprised  to  find  in  how  many  instances 
the  native  origin  in  respect  to  particular  districts,  of  those 
who  were  about  to  sail,  might  be  determined.  Said  a  dear 
friend  who  soon  after  laid  down  his  life,  on  a  mission  to  Af 
rica,  "  There  is  the  aged  Fantee  and  Haousian — they  say 
'  I  go  to  encourage  the  young — they  can  never  be  elevated 
here — I  have  tried  it  sixty  years — it  is  in  vain — could  I  by 
my  example  induce  them  to  embark,  and  I  die  the  next  day, 
I  should  be  satisfied.'  There  is  also  the  Congoese,  the 
Gulan,  the  Angolan,  the  Aceran,  and  Ashantee — all  with 
their  faces  to  the  East.  And  there  is  one  case  of  great 
interest — the  name  of  that  girl,  is  A-cush-u-no-no.  In  Af 
rica  she  would  be  styled  a  young  Fantee  Princess.  She  is 
an  heir  of  heaven,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe." 

« It  is  delightful  to  anticipate,  as  I  think  we  may,  with 
great  confidence,  the  result  of  the  Colonization  enterprise. 
It  is  glorious  in  its  object — it  will,  I  doubt  not,  be  truly  glo-. 
rious  in  its  results.' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  187 


Africa  a  home  for  her  children. 


CONVERSATION  XIX. 


«  For  myself,  I  am  free  to  say,  that  of  all  things  that  have  been  going  on 
in  our  favour  since  1787,  when  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  was  se 
riously  proposed,  that  which  is  going  on  in  the  United  States  is  the  most 
important.  It  surpasses  every  thing  that  has  yet  occurred.  JNo  sooner  had 
your  colony  been  established  on  Cape  Montserado,  than  there  appeared  a 
disposition  among  the  owners  of  slaves  to  give  them  freedom  voluntarily 
and  without  compensation,  and  allow  them  to  be  sent  to  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  so  that  you  have  many  thousands  redeemed,  without  any  cost  for 
their  redemption.  To  me  this  is  truly  astonishing.  Can  this  have  taken 
place  without  the  intervention  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ?" — Thomas  Clarkson. 


'  IT  is  a  settled  point,  I  should  think,'  said  Caroline — 'I  con 
sider  it  as  settled  in  my  own  mind,  at  least,  that  Africans 
and  their  descendants  cannot  be  so  useful  or  happy  as  citi 
zens  of  this  country,  as  they  might  be  in  their  fathers'  native 
land,' 

Said  Mr.  L.,  «•!  have  been  looking  over  a  discourse  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller  of  Princeton,  which  was  delivered  in 
1823,  before  the  Synod  of  New-Jersey.  The  Dr.  holds 
this  language,  in  reference  to  this  subject,  which,  if  you 
please,  I  will  read  : 

"  If  liberated  and  left  among  the  whites,  they  would  be 
a  constant  source  of  annoyance,  corruption,  and  danger. 
They  could  never  be  trusted  as  faithful  citizens ;  for  they 
could  never  feel  that  their  interests  and  those -of  the.  whites. 


188  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Motives  to  respectability. 

are  precisely  the  same.  Each  would  regard  the  other  with 
painful  suspicion  and  apprehension.  *  *  It  is  essential  to 
the  interests  of  each  that  they  be  separated  to  such  distances 
from  each  other,  as  to  avoid  too  frequent  intercourse.  They 
should  be  in  a  situation  to  live  a  separate  and  independent 
people.  If  we  would  consult  their  temporal  and  eternal 
well-being,  this  must  be  done  ;  if  we  would  consult  our  own 
interests  and  happiness,  it  is  equally  necessary." 

*  Again  he  says,  "  They  could  never  be  either  respectable 
or  happy  in  the  midst  of  a  white   population.     They  can 
never,  whilst  public  sentiment  remains  what  it  is,  associate 
with  the  whites  on  terms  of  equality.     They  may  be  indus 
trious  and  regular;  they  may  be  enterprising  and  successful 
in  business  ;  and  exhibit  talents,  knowledge,  and  wealth  ;  but 
after  all  they  can  never  associate  with  the  whites  on  terms 
comfortable  to  either.     They  will  be  treated,  and  they  will 
feel  as  inferiors.     They  cannot  live  under  the  influence  of 
that  sense  of  character,  of  those  excitements  to  aim  at  a  high 
standing  in  society  which  operate  upon  a  corresponding  num 
ber  of  white  people.     As  they  cannot  fail  to  have  a  degraded 
standing,  so  this  will  confer  on  them  in  a  greater  or  less  de 
gree  a  degraded  character.     Place   any  number  of  human 
beings,  of  whatever  complexion,  in  a  situation  in  which  they 
can  never  aspire  to  an  equality  with  those  around  them,  and 
you  take   away  from  them  one  of  the   main  incitements  to 
industry,  to  honourable  enterprise,  and  to  emulation  of  ex 
cellence." 

*  This  is  indeed  but  a  repetition  of  the  sentiments  which 
I  have  already  advanced  in   these   conversations.     Slavery 
must,  sooner  or  later,  cease  from  among  us  ;  and  I  pray  that 
the  hour  may  hasten  when  our   country  shall  be  delivered 
from  its  scourge  and  reproach.     But  the  more  I  contemplate 
the  subject,  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  the  way  which 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 


189- 


The  foundation  of  a  Christian  empire  laid. 


gives  promise  of  greatest  and  most  extensive  benefit  to  the 
slaves  in  our  country,  as  well  as  to  the  whites,  is  emancipa 
tion  united  with  colonization.  Nor  can  I  doubt  that  the 
coloured  people  of  this  country  who  are  already  nominally 
free*  will  best  promote  their  own  interests,  as  well  as  the 
best  interests  of  their  race  and  the  salvation  of  their  fathers' 
native  continent,  by  planting  themselves  in  some  position  on 
the  inviting  shores  of  Africa.' 


o 


'But,  Pa,  they  must  be  prepared  by  education,  and  suita 
ble  moral  and  religious  instruction,  in  order  to  be  good  citi 
zens  of  any  country  ?J 

«  Certainly.  African  improvement  and  colonization  should 
be  considered  inseparable.  Great  care  must  betaken,  not  to 
destroy  the  hope  of  a  rich  blessing  for  Africa  by  sending 
thither  a  people  who  are  not  prepared  to  assist  in  laying  the 
foundation  for  a  great  and  cultivated,  prosperous  and  Christian 
nation. 

4  The  germ  of  such  an  empire,  I  am  happy  to  say, .has  al 
ready,  as  I  confidently  believe,  taken  root  in  Africa.  The 
leaven  of  Christianity  is  already  in  the  midst  of  her  dark  and 
absurd  superstitions.  And  I  have  no  doubt  that  before  a  cen 
tury  has  passed  away,  millions  of  free  and  enlightened  aad 
Christian  people  will  lift  their  hearts  up  in  thanksgivings  to 
God  on  the  shores  of  Africa,  in  grateful  recollection  of  the 
Pilgrims  of  Mesurado !' 

*  We  should  like,  Pa,  to  know  more  than  we  do  of  the  ob 
ject  and  history  of  colonization.' 

*  I  was  just  about  to  suggest  the  same,'  said  Henry. 


190  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

History  of  the  American  Colonization  Society. 

*  It  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  gratify  your  wishes  in 
this  respect. 

*THE  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY  is  a  voluntary 
and  benevolent  association  which  was  formed  at  Washington, 
District  of  Columbia,  in  the  December  of  1816.  Who  is 
entitled  to  the  honour  of  first  suggesting  its  formation  and 
character,  I  shall  not  undertake  to  determine.  It  has  been 
said,  that,  as  early  as  1777,  Mr.  Jefferson  proposed  to  the 
legislature  of  Virginia  to  have  incorporated  in  the  revised 
code  of  that  State,  a  plan  for  colonizing  the  free  coloured 
population  of  the  United  States.  It  is  said  that  he  proposed 
to  establish  a  colony  in  some  part  of  our  western  country. 
The  project  proved  abortive. 

'  In  England,  Dr.  Fothergill  and  Granville  Sharp  appear 
first  t6  have  considered  the  subject,  the  latter  of  whom  may 
be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone. 
The  earliest  suggestions  that  I  have  met  with  on  this  sub 
ject,  from  over  the  waters,  were  from  the  pen  of  Granville 
Sharp,  bearing  date  1783.  It  is  said  that  Anthony  Benezet, 
in  a  letter  addressed  to  Dr.  Fothergill,  1773,  proposed  to  co 
lonize  the  Negroes  of  this  country,  in  "that  large  extent  of 
country  from  the  west  side  of  the  Alleghany  mountains  to 
the  Mississippi,  on  a  breadth  of  four  or  five  hundred  miles." 
Benezet  also  writes,  under  date  of  4th  month  28th,  1773, 
"I  am  like-minded  with  thee,  with  respect  to  the  danger  and 
difficulty  which  would  attend  a  sudden  manumission  of  those 
Negroes  now  in  the  Southern  colonies,  as  well  to  themselves 
as  to  the  whites." 

'In  1785,  a  Society  seems  to  have  been  formed  in  Penn 
sylvania,  for  promoting  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery, 
which  received  a  charier  in  1789;  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
this  body  contemplated  the  colonization  of  the  free  blacks  in 
a  separate  community.  For  this  Society,  however,  it  has 


*0>.. 

IP 


T"5 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Society  formed, 

'-.    '  . 

been  claimed  by  an  able  advocate  for  colonization,  (J.  R. 
Tyson,  Esq.)  that  it  is  "  the  parent  of  perhaps  all  the  similar 
institutions  in  this  country." 

'  In  1787,  Dr.  Thornton,  of  Washington,  formed  a  project 
for  colonizing  free  men  of  colour,  from  the  United  States, 
on  the  western  coast  of  Africa ;  and  published  an  address  to 
those  residing  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  inviting 
them  to  accompany  him  to  Africa  for  the  purpose  of  forming 
a  settlement.  He  was  enthusiastically  engaged  in  the  enter 
prise,  and  was  so  far  successful  that  he  found  a  sufficient 
number  of  free  blacks  ready  to  go ;  but  unfortunately,  his 
efforts  failed  for  want  of  sufficient  funds,  the  public  mind  not 
being  then  prepared  for  any  such  enterprise  of  benevolence 
to  afford  that  pecuniary  aid  which  is  so  commendably  fur 
nished  when  any  good  object  presents  itself  at  the  present 
day. 

'In  1789,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hopkins,  of  Rhode  Island,  corres 
ponded  with  Granville  Sharp  on  the  subject ;  and  in  1790, 
an  able  article  on  the  subject  was  published  by  Ferdinando 
Fairfax,  of  Virginia. 

'In  1801,  the  legislature  of  Virginia  resolved  instructions 
to  their  Governor,  Mr.  Monroe,  to  apply  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  urge  him  to  institute  negotiations  with 
some  of  the  powers  of  Europe  possessed  of  colonies  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  for  an  asylum  to  which  emancipated  Negroes 
might  be  sent.  A  correspondence  followed  between  Presi 
dent  Jefferson  and  the  Sierra  Leone  company,  and  afterwards 
with  the  government  of  Portugal ;  but  obstacles  presented, 
and  that  project  was  at  length  abandoned. 

'The  plan  of  a  Colonization  Society,  it  is  generally  con 
sidered,  was  proposed  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Finley,  of  New- 
Jersey.  He,  it  seems,  devoted  much  thought  to  the  subject 
in  1814,  as  also  in  1815.  It  is  also  evident  that  the  Rev. 


192  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

First  emigration  to  Africa. 

Samuel  J.  Mills,  of  Connecticut,  was  not,  at  this  time, 
without  the  conception  of  the  great  plan,  in  his  own  mind. 
Some,  who  assert  that  they  speak  from  personal  knowledge, 
represent  Mr.  Mills  as  the  man,  who,  under  God,  was  at 
the  foundation  of  this  institution.  Be  that  as  it  may,  he 
was,  confessedly,  a  warm  advocate  for  the  measure,  and 
greatly  efficient  in  bringing  about  the  desired  result.  The 
American  Colonization  Society  was  formed,  as  I  have  said, 
in  1816;  and  in  the  steps  immediately  preliminary  to  its 
organization,  are  recorded  the  names  of  Mr.  Finley,  Mr. 
Mills,  the  Hon.  C.  F.  Mercer  of  Virginia,  and  F.  S.  Key 
and  E.  B.  C  aid  well,  Esqrs.  of  Washington.  Among  those 
who  attended  the  first  meeting,  for  the  organization  of  the 
Society,  may  be  mentioned  also  as  conspicuous,  the  Hon. 
Bushrod  Washington,  who  was  first  President  of  the  So 
ciety,  and  the  Hon.  Henry  Clay,  one  of  its  earliest  Vice- 
Preside  nts. 

'  The  first  emigration  of  coloured  people  to  Africa,  from 
the  United  States,  was  in  1815,  about  a  year  previous  to 
the  formation  of  the  American  Colonization  Society.  This 
expedition  was  under  the  direction  of  Paul  Cuffee,  a  co 
loured  man,  and  truly  respectable,  benevolent  and  wealthy 
member  of  the  denomination  of  Friends.  Capt.  Cuffee, 
whose  home  was  in  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  sailed  from  Bos 
ton,  in  his  own  vessel,  taking  with  him  thirty-eight  persons 
to  Sierra  Leone,  thirty  of  whom  he  carried  out  gratuitously, 
at  an  expense  to  himself  of  more  than  three  thousand  dol 
lars.' 

*  Did  you  say  that  he  was  a  coloured  man,  Pa  ?' 

« I  did  ;  and  very  much  of  a  gentleman  he  was  too.  His 
•father  was  a  poor  African  whom  the  hand  of  unfeeling  ava<- 
rice  dragged  from  his  native  home  and  connexions  into 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  193 

Colonization  Agents  visit  Africa. 

slavery ;  but  by  his  good  conduct,  faithfulness  and  perse 
vering  industry,  in  time  obtained  his  freedom.  Paul  was 
poor  in  his  early  days  ;  but  was  industrious  and  enterpris 
ing,  by  which  traits,  joined  to  much  practical  wisdom  and 
sterling  common  sense,  he  at  length  arose  to  opulence.  He 
was  largely  concerned  in  commerce ;  and  in  many  voyages, 
to  Russia,  England,  Africa,  the  West  Indies,  and  Southern 
States,  commanded  his  own  ship.  A  man  of  the  strictest 
integrity,  modest  and  yet  dignified  in  his  manners,  of  a  feel 
ing  and  liberal  heart,  public  spirited  and  versed  in  the  bu 
siness  of  the  world,  his  acquaintance  and  friendship  were 
valued  by  many  who  greatly  honoured  him,  both  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe.  I  remember  seeing  him  often,  in 
my  youth.  The  last  time,  which  I  recollect  seeing  him  was 
as  he  was  passing  through  my  native  place,  in  his  own 
private  family  carriage,  drawn  by  beautiful  white  horses, 
with  a  coachman  of  his  own  complexion,  on  his  way  to 
attend  a  Yearly  Meeting  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  of 
which  I  have  said  he  was  a  worthy  and  highly  respected 
member. 

'In  1818,  the  American  Colonization  Society  appointed 
as  agents,  the  Rev.  Samuel  John  Mills,  whose  labours  and 
prayers,  in  the  short  time  that  he  lived,  accomplished  much 
for  the  glory  of  God,  and  laid  the  foundation  for  great  re 
sults  in  the  conversion  of  perishing  heathen ;  and  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Burgess,  now  Dr.  Burgess,  the  excellent  Pastor 
of  one  of  the  churches  in  New-England ;  and  instructed 
them  to  proceed  to  the  coast  of  Africa,  by  the  way  of  Eng 
land,  to  make  the  necessary  inquiries  for  a  suitable  location 
of  a  colony. 

1  These  gentlemen  visited  all  the  ports  from  Sierra  Leone 
to  Sherbro,  and  acquired  much  valuable  information.  Mr. 
Mills,  as  you  know,  died  on  the  passage  from  Africa,  leav- 

Q 


194  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Samuel  John  Mills. 

ing  the  church  to  mourn  the  loss  of  one  of  the  best  and 
most  useful  of  men. 

'  You  recollect,  probably,  the  just  and  eloquent  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  this  man  of  God,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bacon  of 
New  Haven.  Mr.  Bacon,  you  know ;  and  know  also  that 
he  is  the  ardent  and  faithful  friend  of  Africa.  I  must, 
through  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  sainted  Mills,  read  to 
you  an  extract  from  Mr.  Bacon's  discourse.  We  will  then 
postpone  any  further  conversation  until  evening,  when  we 
will  hope  to  resume  the  subject.' 

"A  young  minister  of  the  gospel  once  said  to  an  intimate 
friend,  *  My  brother,  you  and  I  are  little  men,  but  before  we 
die,  our  influence  must  be  felt  on  the  other  side  of  the 
world.'  Not  many  years  after,  a  ship,  returning  from  a  dis 
tant  quarter  of  the  globe,  paused  on  her  passage  across  the 
deep.  There  stood  on  her  deck  a  man  of  God,  who  wept 
over  the  dead  body  of  his  friend.  He  prayed,  and  the  sai 
lors  wept  with  him.  And  they  consigned  that  body  to  the 
ocean.  It  was  the  body  of  the  man  who,  in  the  ardour  of 
youthful  benevolence,  had  aspired  to  extend  his  influence 
through  the  world.  He  died  in  youth  ;  but  he  had  redeem 
ed  his  pledge  ;  and  at  this  hour,  his  influence  is  felt  in 
Asia,  in  Africa,  in  the  Islands  of  the  sea,  and  in  every  cor 
ner  of  his  native  country. 

"  This  was  SAMUEL  JOHN  MILLS  ;  and  all  who  know  his 
history,  will  say  that  I  have  exaggerated  neither  the  gran 
deur  of  his  aspirations,  nor  the  result  of  his  efforts.  He 
traversed  our  land  like  a  ministering  spirit,  silently,  and  yet 
effectually,  from  the  hill  country  of  the  Pilgrims  to  the  val 
ley  of  the  Missouri.  He  wandered  on  errands  of  benevo 
lence  from  village  to  village,  and  from  city  to  city,  pleading 
now  with  the  patriot  for  a  country  growing  up  to  an  im 
mensity  of  power,  and  now  with  the  Christian,  for  a  world 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  195 

Samuel  John  Mills. 

lying  in  wickedness.  He  explored  in  person  the  desola 
tions  of  the  West,  and  in  person  he  stirred  up  to  enterprise 
and  effort  the  churches  of  the  East.  He  lived  for  India 
and  Owhyhee,  and  died  in  the  service  of  Africa.  He  went 
to  heaven  in  his  youth  ;  but  his  works  do  follow  him,  like  a 
long  train  of  glory  that  still  widens  and  brightens,  and  will 
widen  and  brighten  for  ever." 

1  Let  me  repeat,'  said  Caroline,  '  as  a  supplement  to  the 
truly  eloquent  extract  from  Mr.  Bacon's  eulogium,  the  po 
etry  of  one  whom  I  love  to  quote,  and  whose  effusions  you, 
Pa,  and  Henry,  both  love  to  hear,  and  then  I  will  consent  to 
adjourn  ;  although,  I  confess,  I  shall  long  for  the  evening  to 
come,  to  resume  the  subject,  for  I  have  become  deeply  inte 
rested.' 

*  I  will  hear  you  with  pleasure,  Caroline,'  said  her  fa 
ther. 

Caroline  remarked,  *  They  are  the  lines  of  Mrs.  Sigour- 
ney,  on  reading  the  Biography  of  the 

REV.   SAMUEL  J.  MILLS. 

"Oh  Africk!  raise  thy  voice  and  weep 

For  him  who  sought  to  heal  thy  wo, 
Whose  bones  beneath  the  briny  deep 

Bleach  where  the  pearl  and  coral  glow. 

Unfetter'd  by  the  wiles  of  earth, 

And  girded  for  the  race  of  heaven, 
Even  from  his  dedicated  birth 

To  God  and  thee  his  soul  was  given. 

In  hermit  cells  of  prayerful  thought, 

In  meditation's  holy  sphere, 
He  nursed  that  sacred  wish  which  sought 

The  darkness  of  a  world  to  cheer. 


196  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Samuel  John  Mills. 

Our  western  wilds  where  outcasts  roam, 
Sad  India's  vales  with  blood  defac'd, 

Blest  Obookiah's  sea-girt  home 
The  ardour  of  his  zeal  embrac'd. 

But  thou,  indebted  clime,  that  drew 
Through  torrid  seas  his  stranger  sail, 

Whose  tall  cliffs  heard  his  fond  adieu, 
Pour  forth  the  wildest,  bitterest  wail." 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  197 

Friends  of  Africa. 


CONVERSATION    XX. 


"  Many  circumstances  at  present  seem  to  concur  in  brightening  the  prospects 
of  the  Society,  and  cherishing  the  hope  that  the  time  will  come  when  the 
dreadful  calamity  which  has  so  long  afflicted  our  country,  and  filled  so  many 
with  despair,  will  be  gradually  removed,  and  by  means  consistent  with  jus 
tice,  peace,  and  the  general  satisfaction  :  thus  giving  to  our  country  the  fuli 
enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  liberty,  and  to  tho  world  the  full  benefit  of  its 
great  example." — James  Madison. 


MR.  L.  remarked,  at  the  opening  of  this  conversation,  'It 
has  occurred  to  me  that,  in  mentioning  the  early  friends  of 
Africa,  I  ought  not  to  have  omitted  mentioning  more  parti 
cularly  the  name  of  Anthony  Benezet.  His  name  will  live, 
whilst  virtue  and  benevolence  are  respected  among  men; 
and  his  earnestness  in  the  cause  of  humanity  will  be  remem 
bered  when  the  history  of  Africa's  redemption  shall  be  writ 
ten.  Benezet  established  a  free  school  in  Philadelphia  for 
the  education  of  coloured  people,  which  is  still  in  operation 
in  Willing's  alley,  Philadelphia,  and  at  which  John  Williams 
and  Peter  Harris,  interesting  youths  from  the  native  tribes  of 
Bassa  Cove,  have  been  partially  educated ;  the  former  of 
whom  has  returned  to  Africa,  and  the  latter,  an  African 
prince,  is  now  at  Lafayette  College,  Easton,  Pa.,  for  the  com 
pletion  of  his  education.  Benezet  was  always  prompt  to 
plead  in  the  behalf  of  the  coloured  race*  as,  to  their  honour 
be  it  told,,  have  ever  been  the  respectable  Society  of  Friends, 


198  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Anthony  Benezet. 

of  which  he  was  a  member,  to  feel  a  deep  concern  to  ame 
liorate  the  condition  of  this  unhappy  class  of  their  fellow- 
men.  Benezet  early  caused  to  be  republished  in  Philadel 
phia  the  celebrated  tract  of  Granville  Sharp,  on  the  "  injus 
tice  of  slavery,"  and  also  wrote  and  published  a  work  on  the 
subject  himself,  which  was  republished  in  England.  He 
commenced  a  correspondence  with  Mr.  Sharp  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  in  1772 ;  of  this  correspondence  I  will  give 
you  another  extract : — "  I  doubt  not,"  he  writes,  "  but  thou 
wilt,  upon  inquiry,  find  more  well-minded  people  ready  to 
cry  thee  '  God  speed,'  in  this  weighty  service,  than  thou  art 
aware  of.  The  most  solid  amongst  all  dissenters,  particu 
larly  the  Presbyterians,  would  be  well-pleased  to  see  an  end 
put  to  the  slave-trade,  and  many,  to  slavery  itself.  The  peo 
ple  of  Ifew  England  have  made  a  law  that  nearly  amounts 
to  a  prohibition  of  the  trade,  and  I  am  informed,  have  pro 
posed  to  the  governor  and  council,  that  all  Negroes  born  in 
the  country  shall  be  free  at  a  certain  age.  The  people  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  are  so  convinced  of  the  inexpediency, 
if  not  of  the  iniquity  of  any  further  importation  of  Negroes, 
that  twenty  thousand  people  would  freely  join  in  a  petition 
to  parliament,  against  any  further  import." 

'Roberts  Vaux,  in  his  life  of  Benezet,  says,  "During 
the  sitting  of  the  legislature,  in  1780,  a  session  memora 
ble  for  the  enactment  of  a  law  which  commenced  the  gra 
dual  abolition  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania,"  Benezet  "  had 
private  interviews  on  the  subject  with  every  member  of  the 
government,  and  no  doubt  thus  essentially  contributed  to  the 
adoption  of  that  celebrated  measure." 

•  I  will  now  endeavour  to  satisfy  your  inquiry  in  respect 
to  the  object  of  the  American  Colonization  Society.  This 
can  be  done  in  a  few  words,  by  referring  to  the  constitution 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Object  of  colonization. 


itself,  of  the  Society,  the  first  two  articles  of  which  are  as  fol 
lows  : 

1  "Article  I.  This  Society  shall  be  called  the  American 
Society  FOR  COLONIZING  THE  FREE  PEOPLE  OF  COLOUR  of  the 
United  States. 

'  "Article  II.  The  OBJECT  to  which  its  attention  is  to  be 
exclusively  directed,  is  TO  PROMOTE  AND  EXECUTE  A  PLAN 
FOR  COLONIZING,  WITH  THEIR  CONSENT,  THE  FREE  PEOPLE  OF 
COLOUR  RESIDING  IN  OUR  COUNTRY,  IN  AFRICA,  OR  SUCH  OTHER 
PLACE  AS  CONGRESS  SHALL  DEEM  EXPEDIENT." 

'  Is  this  alone  the  object  of  the  Society?'  said  Caroline,  'I 
had  supposed  that  it  contemplated  also  the  suppression  of 
the  slave-trade,  and  also  the  final  emancipation  of  slaves  in 
our  country.' 

'Its  whole  object,'  said  Mr.  L,,  *  is  stated  in  the  second 
article  of  its  constitution.  Other  important  ends  maybe  ob 
tained  as  the  means  of  establishing  and  building  up  the  colo 
ny,  or  as  consequences  of  the  efforts  for  colonization  ;  but  this 
is  the  one  object  it  has  in  view.  Pursuing  this  one  ob 
ject,  the  North  and  the  South  may  unite  in  harmonious 
action. 

'  The  subject  of  emancipation  it  passes  by,  knowing  that 
this  belongs  exclusively  to  the  several  States  in  which  slave 
ry  is  tolerated,  and  to  individual  proprietors  in  those  States, 
under  and  according  to  their  laws.  The  subject  of  the  slave- 
trade  is  not  contemplated  directly  in  the  constitution  of  the 
Society,  for  the  authority  for  its  suppression  is  vested  only 
in  the  government  of  the  nations.  Nor  does  it  directly  aim 
at  the  education  and  improvement  of  the  blacks  in  this  coun 
try;  for  this  must  be  under  the  direction  of  State  govern 
ments,  or  of  State  Societies,  and  no  interference  in  the  do- 


200  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Colonization  generally  approved. 

mestic  concerns  of  any  one  State,  is  admissible  on  the  part 
of  inhabitants  of  another  State.  At  the  same  time,  to  use 
the  language  of  one  of  its  Vice-Presidents,  Mr.  Clay,  "  It 
hopes  that  if  it  shall  demonstrate  the  practicability  of  the 
successful  removal  to  Africa,  of  free  persons  of  colour,  with 
their  own  consent;  the  cause  of  emancipation,  either  by 
States  or  by  individuals,  may  be  incidentally  advanced.  At 
the  same  time,  our  country  will  be  relieved  of  a  great  evil  in 
proportion  as  colonization  succeeds  ;  those  who  may  remove 
will  find  their  condition  greatly  improved  ;  and  by  introduc 
ing  knowledge,  industry,  and  religion  into  Africa,  we  shall 
contribute  to  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  and  to  the 
civilization  and  conversion  of  a  CONTINENT  !  These  are  ends 
which  will  be  obtained  although  the  object  of  the  Society  is 


'  The  course  which  the  Society  takes,  unites  a  greater  num 
ber  of  judicious  and  well  disposed  persons  of  every  section 
of  our  common  country,  probably,  than  any  other  plan  could. 
It  is  true,  there  are  not  a  few  who  object:  the  slave-holder 
has,  in  some  instances,  indulged  the  suspicion  that  an  inter 
ference  "  with  the  rights  of  property,"  may  be  intended  ; 
and  the  advocate  of  general  and  immediate  emancipation 
without  discrimination,  has  cast  upon  the  Society  his  keen 
est  reproaches,  alleging  that  its  influence,  if  not  its  direct 
object,  is  to  perpetuate  the  existence  of  slavery.  These  ob 
jections,  however,  so  diametrically  opposite,  many  advocates 
of  colonization  regard  as  matter  of  felicitation,  rather  than 
otherwise,  inasmuch  as  they  evince  the  wisdom  of  the  plan 
of  operation  which  is  proposed.  The  virulent  denunciations 
of  both  extremes  of  public  sentiment,  they  say,  were  to  be 
expected  by  a  Society  rejecting  the  hurtful  in  the  views  of 
either,  although  adopting  the  liberal  in  both.  Besides,  had 
it  been  warmly  espoused  at  the  first  by  either,  it  would  have- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  201 

Lafayette's  views  of  the  Colonization  Society. 

been  irreconcileably  opposed  by  the  other,  and  would  have 
been  itself  the  dividing  line  between  two  great  parties,  leav 
ing  no  middle  ground  on  which  the  great  majority  of  the 
nation  might  stand,  as  now,  and  safely  urge  forward  this 
cause  of  philanthropy  and  of  patriotism,  without  compromise 
of  principles,  or  the  violation  of  the  constitution  and  endan- 
germent  of  the  Union.' 

'  This  Society,'  Caroline  here  remarked,  *  we  know,  is 
approved  by  many  judicious  and  good  men,  and  I  do  not  see 
why  it  should  be  opposed,  or  suspected  of  designing  to  take 
any  other  course  than  that  which  it  has  taken,  and  still  pur 
sues.  "  Charity  thinketh  no  evil."  : 

And  Henry  said,  '  I  wonder  how  the  subject  would  strike 
the  mind  of  a  man  of  enlarged  views  and  philanthropic  soul, 
who  was  in  a  situation  to  see  it  as  it  is,  and  to  judge  without 
prejudice.  I  should  think  now,  that  the  opinion  of  such  a 
man  as  LAFAYETTE,  would  be  worthy  of  regard  ;  if  he  ap 
proved  of  colonization,  or  disapproved  of  it,  I  should  think 
that  his  unprejudiced  opinion  would  have  influence.' 

'Lafayette  was  a  Vice-President  of  the  Colonization  So-* 
ciety,  Henry,'  said  Caroline. 

'  0  no,  Caroline,'  said  H. ;  'are  you  not  mistaken?' 

'Yes,'  said  Mr.  L,,  'Lafayette  was  an  honorary  Vice- 
President  of  the  Colonization  Society.  And  we  have  his 
opinion,  expressly,  on  the  subject  of  colonization.  In  a  let 
ter,  dated  at  "Paris,  Oct.  29,  1831,"  he  says,  "The  pro 
gressing  state  of  our  Liberia  establishment,  is  to  me  a  source 
of  enjoyment  and  the  most  lively  interest.  PROUD  AS  I  A.M 
OF  THE  HONOUR  of  being  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the 
Society,  I  only  regret  that  I  cannot  make  myself  more  use- 


202  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Other  distinguished  men. 

ful.     *     *     When  the  Society  meet,  be  pleased  to  present 
my  wishes,  gratitude,  and  respect." 

4  Who  are  some  of  the  other  officers  of  the  Society ;  many 
of  our  most  distinguished  public  men?' 

'  It  has  enjoyed  both  the  entire  confidence  of  our  most 
distinguished  men,  and  the  high  honour  of  their  influence 
and  services  as  its  members  and  officers.  Some  of  these 
"  are  not,  for  God  has  taken  them  ;"  others  are  with  us,  and 
long  may  they  be  spared  to  help  forward  the  cause  of  co 
lonization,  and  as  ornaments  and  blessings  in  the  world. 
The  Hon.  Bushrod  Washington,  I  have  already  named,  as 
its  first  President.  Charles  Carroll  was  President  of  the 
Society  after  the  death  of  Judge  Washington.  James  Ma 
dison  was  its  late  President.  The  late  Chief- Justice  Mar 
shall  and  the  venerable  and  lamented  Bishop  White  have 
been  among  its  Vice-Presidents;  also,  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Craw 
ford  and  Bishop  McKendree. 

'  Among  its  present  officers  are  Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky, 
John  C.  Herbert  of  Maryland,  Robert  Ralston  of  Philadel 
phia,  Samuel  Bayard  of  New-Jersey,  Daniel  Webster  of 
Boston,  Gen.  Mercer  of  Va.,  President  Day  of  Yale  Col 
lege,  John  Cotton  Smith  of  Conn.,  Theo.  Frelinghuysen  of 
N.  Jersey,  Gerrit  Smith  of  N.  York,  Bishop  Meade  of  Va., 
Samuel  Southard  of  N.  Jersey,  and- — I  will  not  undertake  to 
enumerate  more,  although  I  might  recollect  and  mention 
many  others  of  distinguished  eminence  in  different  parts  of 
the  Union.  The  Colonization  Society  has,  indeed,  become 
an  object  of  admiration  in  different  parts  of  the  globe.' 

*  I  recollect,'  said  Henry,  '  among  those  whose  approba 
tion,  it  received,  the  name  of  Wilberforce,' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  203 

Auxiliaries. 

'  In  respect  to  Wilberforce,  your  apprehension  is  correct 
that  it  received  his  approbation,'  said  Mr.  L.,  "  Troja 
fuit  .'"  It  may  be  considered  a  mooted  point,  however,  as 
relates  to  the  final  decision  of  the  mind  of  the  philanthropic 
and  lamented  Wilberforce.  It  is  asserted  that  he  withdrew 
confidence  from  the  cause,  although  he  had  been  the  unhesi 
tating  friend  and  advocate  of  colonization.  In  regard  to  this 
matter,  Dr.  Hodgkin,  of  London,  says  that  "  Wilberforce 
continued  to  avow  his  approbation  of  the  Society  until  near 
the  period  of  his  lamented  death,  when  the  exparte  state 
ments  of  those  who  knew  the  importance  of  his  authority, 
obtained  a  triumph,  the  achievement  of  which  confers  no  ho 
nour." 

'The  Society  has  not  been  without  many  and  distinguish 
ed  friends  abroad,  however.  Lord  Althorp,  the  late  learned 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  one  of  the  most  enlight 
ened  and  distinguished  noblemen  of  England,  has  publicly 
pronounced  the  foundation  of  the  Colony  of  Liberia  to  be 
"  one  of  the  greatest  events  of  modern  times."  The  im 
mortal  Clarkson,  whose  labours  in  the  cause  of  African  free 
dom  have  been  greater  than  those  of  almost  any  other  man 
living,  is  "  strongly  attached  to  the  Society ;"  the  Duke  of 
Sussex,  Lord  Bexley,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  the  Archbishop 
of  Dublin,  and  others  of  the  highest  standing  in  society, 
are  officers  of  a  Society  denominated  THE  BRITISH  AFRICAN 
COLONIZATION  SOCIETY,  which  has  been  formed  in  Great 
Britain  in  aid  of  the  colonization  enterprise.  They  consi 
der  the  plan  of  the  American  Colonization  Society  as  "  ad 
mirably  adapted  to  introduce  Christianity  and  civilization 
among  the  natives  of  Africa,  and  to  extirpate  the  slave-trade, 
which  the  moral  efforts  of  Great  Britain  and  other  powers, 
have  been  unable  to  suppress."  I  might  mention  many 


204  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Legislative  acts  approbatory. 

eminent  foreigners  who  have  expressed  their  decided  appro 
bation  of  the  Society.' 

'Auxiliaries  are  found,  I  presume,  in  almost  every  State 
of  the  Union ;  are  they  not,  Pa  ?' 

*  I  am  not  able  to  specify  the  number,  but  I  recollect  there 
are  State  and  other  auxiliaries  in  Maine,  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New-York,  New- 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
Alabama,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Dela 
ware  ;  and  resolutions  approving  of  the  Society,  have  been 
passed  by  the  Legislatures  of  most  of  these  and  other  States, 
and  by  most  of  these  also  the  American  Colonization  So 
ciety  has  been  recommended  to  the  patronage  of  the  Ge 
neral  Government. 

'  Some  of  the  States  have  made  conditional  appropriations 
from  their  respective  treasuries.  Maryland  has  set  a  noble 
example  to  her  sister  States  by  granting  $200,000  from  her 
treasury — that  is,  the  sum  of  $20,000  annually  for  ten  years 
— to  enable  the  free  blacks  of  Maryland,  if  they  feel  dis 
posed,  to  remove  to  Liberia. 

'  The  Society  has  also  received  the  approbation  of  all 
prominent  denominations,  by  the  acts  of  their  ecclesiastical 
judicatories,  whether  assemblies,  general  associations,  sy 
nods,  classes,  meetings,  or  conventions.  Episcopalians, 
Presbyterians,  the  Dutch  Reformed,  Methodists,  Congrega- 
tionalists,  Baptists,  Lutherans,  Moravians,  and  Friends, 
have  thought  proper,  in  their  larger  ecclesiastical  bodies,  to 
commend  the  objects  of  the  Society  to  the  patronage  and 
good  wishes  of  the  community.' 

4  Has  the  Society  considerable  funds  by  which  to  sustain 
its  operations  ?' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  205 

Funds. 

*  It  has  almost  none,  aside  from  voluntary  contributions, 
which  are  made  from  week  to  week.     Its  income,  however, 
from  these  sources,  has  been  considerable,  and  gradually  in 
creasing  from  its  commencement.     From  1821  to  1828  in 
clusive,  the  amount  of  donations  was  nearly  $83,000.     In 
1829,  it  was  upwards   of  $20,000.     In  1830,  more  than 
$27,000.     In  1831,   rising  $32,000.     In  1832,  more  than 
$32,000.     In  1833,  $49,000.     In  1834-5,  nearly  $52,000. 
A  heavy  debt  which  had  accumulated  upon  it,  and  had  like, 
for  a  time,  to  have  disheartened  its  friends  and  suspended 
its  operations,  has,  by  a  better  arrangement  in  respect  to  its 
fiscal  operations,  been  nearly  extinguished,  and  its  prospects 
are  again  brightening. 

*  In  our  next  conversation,  we  will  turn  our  attention  to 
LIBERIA.' 


R 


206  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Liberia. 


CONVERSATION  XXI. 


"  Yes !  thy  proud  lords,  unpitying  band,  shall  see 
That  man  hath  yet  a  soul,  and  dare  be  free; 
A  little  while,  along  thy  saddening  plains, 
The  starless  night  of  desolation  reigns  ; 
Truth  shall  restore  the  light  by  Nature  given, 
And,  like  Prometheus,  bring  the  fire  of  heaven! 
Prone  to  the  dust  Oppression  shall  be  hurl'd — 
Her  name,  her  nature,  wither'd  from  the  world." 

Campbell. 


'  You  promised,  in  our  last  conversation,'  said  Caroline, 
'  that  we  should  this  morning  hear  something  of  the  history 
of  LIBERIA  ;  and  I  assure  you,  Pa,  that  Henry  and  I  have 
a  great  deal  of  curiosity  to  satisfy  on  this  subject,  so  that 
you  may  expect  to  be  troubled  with  a  great  many  questions. 
Why,  Sir,  was  the  district  in  which  the  colony  is  located, 
called  Liberia  ?' 

'  I  am  much  gratified  to  find  that  you  both  take  so  deep 
an  interest  in  the  subject;  and  shall  be  pleased  to  hear  and 
to  reply  to  as  many  inquiries  as  you  may  feel  inclined  to 
make. 

'  The  name  "  Liberia,"  was  given  to  the  colony,  because 
it  is  the  land  of  thefree'd  ;  the  name  being  coined  from  the 
Latin  adjective  "  liber,"  or  "  libera,"/ree. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  207 

Location  and  chief  settlements. — Monrovia. 

*  The  central  point  of  this  colony  is  Cape  Mesurado,  or 
Montserado,  which  is  represented  as  a  most  beautiful  and 
commanding  site.     Liberia  is  situated  about  5  degrees  N.  of 
the  equator,  and  250  miles  S.  of  Sierra  Leone,  the  English 
colony.     It  extends  along  the  coast  to  the  length  of  150  or 
300  miles  ;  and  reaches  into  the  interior  indefinitely.     Ri 
vers,  some  of  considerable  size,  water  the  country  through 
out.     The  soil  is  extremely  fertile,  and  abounds  in  all  the 
productions  of  tropical  climates.     The   population,    at  the 
present  time,  is  more  than  4,000  ;  perhaps  it  may  be,  as  is 
estimated  by  some,  5  or  6,000. 

*  The  chief  city  is  Monrovia  ;  so  called  in  honour  of  the 
late  ex-President  of  the    United  States,  James  Monroe.     It 
is  situated  on  Cape  Montserado,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Me 
surado  river ;  and  contains  about  500  houses  and  stores — a 
court-house — six  churches,   one    Episcopal,  one    Presby 
terian,  two   Methodist,  and  two  Baptist — three  flourishing 
schools,  one  of  which  has  up  wards  of  100  scholars — a  tem 
perance  society,  numbering  upwards  of  500  members — and 
about  1500    inhabitants.     The  houses  are   generally   well 
built,  and  of  a  pleasant  appearance.     The  city  is  seventy 
feet  above  the  sea  ;  and  the   temperature  is  mild  and  agree 
able,  the  thermometer  not  varying  more  than  from  68  to 
87  deg.,  and  the  inhabitants  enjoying,  most  of  the  time,  a 
refreshing  sea-breeze.    The  streets  are  100  feet  wide,  cross 
ing  each  other  at  right  angles.    The  harbour,  which  is  form 
ed  by  the  mouth  of  the  river,  is  convenient  and  capacious 
for  vessels  of  moderate  dimensions. 

'  Seven  miles  north  of  the  outlet  of  the  Mesurado,  is  the 
river  St.  Paul's,  on  which  is  the  town  of  Caldwell.  This 
town,  after  the  plan  of  some  American  villages,  has  but  one 
street,  which,  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  is  planted  on  either 
side  with  a  beautiful  row  of  plaintain  and  banana  trees. 


208  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Caldwell. — Stockton. — New  Georgia. 


Caldwell  is  an  agricultural  establishment,  and  is  nourishing. 
It  has  three  churches,  three  day  schools,  and  three  Sunday 
schools.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  than  one  of  the  native 
kings  recently  applied  at  one  of  these  day  schools  for  ad 
mission  of  twelve  children ;  which,  however,  could  not  be 
received  as  the  school  was  already  full. 

*  Between  Caldwell  and  Monrovia  is  another  settlement 
called  Stockton.  And  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay  of 
Stockton,  is  a  settlement  of  recaptured  Africans,  called  New 
Georgia,  and  planted  in  part,  by  the  akl  of  our  General 
Government.  It  contains  500  inhabitants,  who,  although 
they  were  once  the  miserable  tenants,  in  chains,  of  the  loath 
some  slave-ship,  are  now  living  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
blessings  of  Christian  and  civilized  life.  This  place  has  a 
church  and  more  than  two  hundred  houses.  Mr.  Buchanan, 
Agent  of  the  Young  Men's  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
visited  the  place,  says  respecting  this  settlement,  "  The  air 
of  perfect  neatness,  thrift,  and  comfort,  which  every  where 
prevails,  affords  a  lovely  commentary  on  the  advancement 
which  these  interesting  people  have  made  in  civilization  and 
Christian  order,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Colonization  So 
ciety.  Imagine  to  yourself,  some  two  or  three  hundred 
houses,  with  streets  intersecting  each  other  at  regular  dis 
tances,  preserved  clean  as  the  best  swept  side-walk  in  Phi 
ladelphia,  and  lined  with  well  planted  hedges  of  Cassava 
and  of  Plum  ;  a  school-house  full  of  orderly  children,  neatly 
dressed,  and  studiously  engaged  ;  and  then  say  whether  I 
was  guilty  of  extravagance,  in  exclaiming  as  I  did,  after  sur 
veying  this  most  lovely  scene,  that  had  the  Colonization 
Society  accomplished  no  more  than  has  bqen  done  in  the 
rescue  from  slavery  and  savage  habits  of  these  happy  peo 
ple,  I  should  have  been  well  satisfied." 

'  North-east  of  Monrovia,   twenty   miles,  on  the  same 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  209 

Millsburgh. — Cape  Palmas. — Address  of  Colonists. 

river,  at  the  foot  of  the  highlands,  is  another  flourishing 
town  called  Millsburgh,  containing  about  500  inhabitants, 
two  churches,  and  one  school,  and  rapidly  increasing  by  new 
colonists.  Millsburgh  has  peculiar  advantages,  many  navi 
gable  streams  enabling  it  to  become  the  commercial  medium 
between  the  interior  and  the  sea-coast.  The  land  is  fertile, 
and  the  forests  abound  with  excellent  timber.  The  town  is 
represented  as  very  neat  and  healthy. 

"  Another  considerable  settlement  in  Liberia,  is  that  form 
ed  under  the  patronage  of  the  Maryland  Colonization  So 
ciety,  at  Cape  Palmas.  This  colony,  which  now  numbers 
between  three  and  four  hundred  inhabitants,  is  advanta 
geously  located  for  health,  and  promises  to  excel  in  agricul 
ture.  Its  inhabitants  are  represented  as  temperate,  intelli 
gent,  and  industrious  ;  and  as  giving  evidence  of  mental  as 
well  as  physical  energy,  that  greatly  encourages  the  confi 
dent  hope  and  expectation  that  they  will  yet  occupy  an  ho 
nourable  rank  among  the  civilized  world. 

'  I  must  give  you  an  extract  from  an  address  from  this  co 
lony  to  the  coloured  people  of  the  United  States.  "  We 
wish,"  say  they,  "  to  be  candid.  It  is  not  every  man  that 
we  can  honestly  advise,  or  desire  to  come  to  this  country. 
To  those  who  are  contented  to  live  and  educate  their  chil 
dren  as  house  servants  and  lackeys,  we  would  say,  stay 
where  you  are;  here  we  have  no  masters  to  employ  you. 
To  the  indolent,  heedless,  and  slothful,  we  would  say,  tarry 
among  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt;  here  we  get  our  bread  by 
the  sweat  of  our  brow.  To  drunkards  and  rioters,  we 
would  say,  come  not  to  us  ;  you  never  can  become  natu 
ralized  in  a  land  where  there  are  no  grog-shops,  and  where 
temperance  and  order  is  the  motto.  To  the  timorous  and 
suspicious,  we  would  say,  stay  where  you  have  protectors ; 
here  we  protect  ourselves.  But  the  industrious,  enterpris- 


210  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Bassa  Cove. — Fertility  of  Liberia. 

ing,  and  patriotic,  of  whatever  occupation,  or  enterprise — 
the  mechanic,  the  merchant,  the  farmer,  (and  especially  the 
latter,)  we  would  counsel,  advise.,  and  entreat,  to  come  over, 
and  be  one  with  us,  and  assist  us  in  this  glorious  enterprise, 
and  enjoy  with  us  that  liberty  to  which  we  ever  were,  and 
to  which  the  man  of  colour  ever  must  be  a  stranger,  in 
America.  To  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  both  white  and 
coloured,  we  would  say,  come  over  to  this  great  harvest, 
and  diffuse  amongst  us  and  our  benighted  neighbours,  the 
light  of  the  gospel,  without  wjiieh  liberty  itself  is  but  slave 
ry,  and  freedom  perpetual  bondage." 

'  Besides,  there  is  the  flourishing  settlement  more  recently 
commenced  at  Bassa  Cove,  of  which  I  will  give  you  a  par-, 
ticular  account  at  another  time,' 

4  The  prosperity  of  Liberia  is  truly  wonderful,'  said 
Ilenry  ;  *  but  I  have  heard  it  asserted,'  he  continued,  '  that 
the  soil  is  sterile.  It  has  been  said  that  the  country  is 
mostly  a  desert.' 

<  A  more  fertile  soil,  Henry,  and  a  more  productive  coun 
try,  I  suspect  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Its  hills  and  its  plains  are  covered  with  a  verdure 
that  never  fades  ;  the  productions  of  nature  keep  on  in  their 
growth  through  all  seasons  of  the  year;  and  even  the  na 
tives  of  the  country,  almost  without  farming  toqls  or  skill, 
with  very  little  labour,  make  more  grain  and  vegetables  than 
they  can  consume,  and  often  more  than  they  can  sell.  They 
who  represent  Liberia  as  sterile,  must  do  so  through  pitia 
ble  ignorance,  or  a  criminal  design  to  injure  the  colpny.. 

'It  is  true,  there  are  in  Africa,  extensive  deserts :  but 
what  should  we  think  of  an  attempt  to  persuade  us,  who  are 
surrounded  with  the  luxuries  of  a  genial  soil  and  cjimate, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY;  211 

Testimony  of  Park. — Productions. 

that  OUB  continent  is  an  uninhabitable  waste,  because-  it 
contains  within  its  limits,  "rocky,  mountains,"  "  dismal 
swamps,"  and  "barrens." 

'  Mr.  Park,  the  traveller*  says,  "All  the  rich  and  valuable 
productions,  both  of  the  East  and  West-  Indies,  might 
easily  be  naturalized,  and  brought  to  the  utmost  perfection 
in  the  tropical  parts  of  this  immense  continent.  Nothing  is 
wanting  to  this  end,  but  example  to  enlighten  the  minds  of 
the  natives,  and  instruction-to  enable  them  to  direct  their  in 
dustry  to  proper  objects.  It  was  not  possible  for  me  to  be 
hold  the  wonderful  fertility  of  the  soil;  the  vast  herds  of; 
cattle,  proper  both  for  labour  and  food  ;  and  a  variety  of 
other  circumstances  favourable  to  colonization  and  agricul 
ture  ;  and-  reflect,  withal,  on  the  means  which  presented 
themselves  of  a  vast  inland  navigation  ;  without  lamenting 
that  a  country  so  gifted  and  favoured  by  nature,  should  re 
main  in  its  present  savage  and  neglected  state." 

*  Indeed,  all  tourists  and  journalists,  who  have  explored' 
the  continent  of  Africa,  whilst  they  find  barren  spots,  pic 
ture  also  widely  extended  regions  of  the  most  exuberant  and 
astonishing  fertility — an  exuberance  affording  so  rkh  and 
spontaneous  a  profusion  of  productions,  that  the  nngoverned 
natives  have  not  the  necessary  excitement  to  exertion.  Li 
beria  lays  claim,  supported  by  the  testimony  of  undoubted 
witnesses,  to  equal-  fertility  with  any  other  portion  of  the 
continent. 

'The  colonists  have  alt' the  domestic  animals  which  are 
found  in  this  country.  They  raise  a  great  variety  of  vegeta 
bles  and  tropical  fruits.  Coffee  grows  spontaneously,  and  of 
an  excellent  kind.  The  attention  of  several  of" the  most  re 
spectable  colonists  has  been  turned,  to  its  cultivation,  and ; 
20,000  coffee  trees  have  been  planted  by  a  single  individual.. 
The  indigo  plants-indigenous,  and  grows  wild  almost  every. 


212  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Resources. — Commercial  advantages. 

where  on  the  coast ;  cotton  is  easily  cultivated  and  the  crops 
are  productive ;  the  sugar-cane  is  found  on  many  parts  of  the 
coast  of  Africa,  and  may  be  cultivated  in  Liberia ;  rice  is 
easy  of  cultivation,  and  has  long  been  the  principal  article  of 
food  to  the  natives ;  bananas  of  an  excellent  and  delicious 
kind,  plantains,  oranges,  fine  flavoured  and  very  large,  and 
limes,  are  common ;  maize,  or  Indian  corn,  ripens  in  three 
months,  and  succeeds  well ;  pine  apples  are  very  good  and 
in  great  abundance ;  cocoa-nut  trees  flourish  well ;  pump 
kins,  squashes  or  simelins,  cucumbers,  water-melons,  and 
musk-melons,  arrive  at  great  perfection  in  that  climate ;  cas- 
sada  and  yams  are  found  in  all  parts  of  the  coast,  and  are 
much  used  for  food ;  palm  oil  is  produced  in  abundance  ; 
tamarinds  of  various  kinds  ;  gum  senega  and  copal  are  arti 
cles  of-  export  in  vast  quantities ;  pepper,  and  a  variety  of 
other  spices,  including  cayenne,  ginger,  cubeds,  cardamum, 
nutmegs,  and  cinnamon,  are  common  on  the  coast ;  several 
valuable  dye-woods  are  found,  of  which  Camwood  and  Bar- 
wood  are  exported  in  considerable  quantities  ;  gold  abounds 
in  many  parts  of  Africa,  and  the  amount  exported  may  be 
greatly  increased;  ivory  is  also  a  great  article  of  commerce, 
and  timber  of  almost  every  quality.  All  these,  and  many 
other  productions,  are  found  in  Africa,  and  are,  or  may  be^ 
sources  of  advantage  and  of  profit  to  the  Liberian  colony. 
The  late  colonial  agent  speaks  of  seeing  at  one  of  the  beau 
tiful  villages  of  the  recaptured  Africans,  a  tract  of  one  hun 
dred  acres  planted  with  cassada,  interspersed  with  patches  of 
Indian  corn  and  sweet  potatoes.' 

*  The  colony,  I  should  think,  would  enjoy  very  considera 
ble  commercial  advantages.5 

,  Henry;  such  is  the  position  of  the  colony,  that  its 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  213 


Commerce  of  Liberia. 


commercial  advantages  are  great.  It  is  the  central  point  in 
a  long  extent  of  sea  coast ;  and  extensive  relations  of  trade 
may  be  established  between  it  and  a  vast  interior.  New 
avenues  are  continually  opening  with  the  interior  tribes,  and 
no  one  can  calculate  the  importance  which  some  parts  of  Li 
beria  may  be  expected  to  assume  at  some  future,  and  not  far 
distant  day.' 

4  The  colony  is  already  engaged  considerably  in  commerce, 
is  it  not,  Sir  ?,' 

'Yes;  and,  my  son,  it  maybe  interesting  to  notice  the 
progress  which  the  colony  is  making  in  this  department  of 
wealth  and  prosperity.  From  January?,  1826,  to  June  15, 
1826,  the  nett  profits  on  wood  and  ivory  alone,  passing 
through  the  hands  of  the  settlers,  was  $30,786.  Passing  on 
to  1829,  we  find  the  exports  of  African  products  to  amount 
to  $60,000.  In  1831,  46  vessels,  21  of  which  were  Ame 
rican,  visited  the  colony,  and  the  amount  of  exports  was 
$88,911.  During  the  year  ending  May  1,  1832,  59  vessels 
had  visited  the  port  of  Monrovia,  and  the  exports  during  the 
same  period  amounted  to  $12.5,549  16,  whilst  the  imports 
amounted  to  $80,000. 

'  A  portion  of  the  colonists  are  continually  and  actively 
engaged  in  trade,  disposing  to  the  natives,  of  English  and 
American,  and  other  goodsv  and  receiving  in  return  dye- 
woods,  ivory,  hides,  gold,  palm  oH,  tortoise  shell,  rice,  &c., 
which  become  articles  of  exportation  and  of  great  profit. 

'  Hand  in  hand  with  the  progress  of  civilization,  will  be 
the  march  of  commerce.  Even  now,  the  harbour  of  Mon 
rovia  presents,  at  times.,  a  most  animating  scene  to  the  be 
holder,  of  commercial  activity  and  enterprise.  You  may 
see  there  often  a  harbour  crowded  with  sails — they  are  an- 


214  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Enterprise  of  Liberia. — Prosperity. 


clioring  and  taking  their  departure — lading  and  unlading — 
warehouses  are  stored  with  rich  cargoes — drays  and  carts  in 
their  confusion,  are  turning  their  rapid  wheels — you  hear  the 
busy  hum  of  industry — you  see  the  alert  movements  of  a 
busy  multitude,  once,  most  of  them,  sluggard  slaves !  Free 
dom  has  transformed  them  into  another  kind  of  men. 

4  ELLIOTT  CRESSON,  ESQ.,  a  generous  and  constant  friend 
of  the  African  race,  as  well  as  sincere  patriot,  who  has  al 
ready  achieved  for  himself  imperishable  honour  by  his  inde 
fatigable  and  disinterested  efforts  in  the  cause  of  this  noble 
philanthropy,  thus  expresses  himself  in  an  address  before 
the  Colonization  Society,  at  their  fourteenth  anniversary, 
which  was  as  long  ago  as  1831: — "  Only  nine  years  have 
elapsed  since  the  little  band  of  colonists  landed  at  the  cape, 
and  a.  nation  has  already  sprang  into  existence — a  nation  des 
tined  to  secure  to  ^Ethiopia  the  fulfilment  of  the  glorious 
prophecy  made  in  her  behalf.  Already  have  kings  thrown 
down  their  crowns  at  the  feet  of  the  infant  republic,  and 
formed  with  her  a  holy  alliance,  for  the  holy  purpose  of  ex 
changing  the  guilty  traffic  in  human  flesh  and  blood  for  legi 
timate  commerce,  equal  laws,  civilization  and  religion. 

"  From  many  an  ancient  river, 

From  many  a  palmy  plain, 
They  call  ns  to  deliver 

Their  land  from  error's  chain." 

They  ask  for  schools,  factories,  churches.  Nearly  2,000 
freemen  have  kindled  a  beacon  fire  at  Monrovia,  to  cast  a 
broad  blaze  of  light  into  the  dark  recesses  of  that  benighted 
land;  and  although  much  pains  has  been  taken  to  overrate 
the  cost,  and  undervalue  the  results,  yet  the  annals  of  colo 
nization  may  be  triumphantly  challenged  for  a  parallel.  Five 
years  of  preliminary  operations  were  requisite  for  surveying 
the  coast,  propitiating  the  natives,  and  selecting  the  most  eli- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  215 

Prosperity. 

gible  site  ;  numerous  agents  were  subsequently  employed, 
ships  chartered,  the  forest  cleared ;  school-houses,  factories, 
hospitals,  churches,  government  buildings,  and  dwellings 
erected,  and  the  many  expenses  requisite  here  defrayed ;  and 
yet,  for  every  $50  expended  by  our  Society  from  its  com 
mencement,  we  have  not  only  a  settler  to  show,  but  an  ample 
and  fertile  territory  in  reserve,  where  our  future  emigrants 
may  sit  under  their  own  vines  and  fig  trees  with  none  to 
make  them  afraid.  During  the  last  year,  an  amount  nearly 
equal  to  the  united  expenditures  in  effecting  these  objects, 
has  been  exported  by  the  colonists ;  and  from  Philadelphia 
alone,  11  vessels  have  sailed,  bearing  to  the  land  of  their 
forefathers  a  large  number  of  slaves  manumitted  by  the  be 
nevolence  of  their  late  owners."  Much  more  may  be  said 
in  reference  to  the  greatness  of  the  success  of  the  colony  at 
the  present  time.' 


216  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Climate. 


CONVERSATION  XXII. 


"  The  condition  of  Africa,  just  in  proportion  as  she  is  improved,  will  re 
flect  beneficial  influences  on  our  own  country.  As  Africa  rises  in  the 
scale  of  improvement,  and  sends  over  the  earth  a  respect  for  her  name  and 
her  people,  so  shall  we  look  with  increasing  interest  and  sympathy  upon  her 
degraded  children  that  are  cast  on  our  shores.  And  just  in  proportion  as 
she  emerges  from  barbarism,  and  puts  on  the  garments  of  civilization,  will 
she  attract  our  coloured  people  to  return  to  her,  and  dispel  the  dread  which 
is  now  common  to  them,  of  emigrating  to  a  land  of  barbarism." 

Gerrit  Smith. 


*  THE  unhealthiness  of  the  climate,  I  suppose,  is  the  great^ 
•est  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  at 
Liberia,  is  it  not,  Pa?'  said  Caroline,  on  resuming  the  con 
versation. 

t  Liberia  has  the  reputation  among  many  of  being  un 
healthy,'  said  Mr.  L.  *  If  we  should  judge,  however,  only 
by  the  health  of  the  natives  on  that  part  of  the  African  coast, 
we  should  suppose  it  to  be  far  otherwise.  It  is  healthy,  it 
appears,  to  acclimated  emigrants.  When  once  accli 
mated,  it  is  said  by  those  who  are  competent  to  decide,  and 
who  could  have  no  inducement  to  make  an  erroneous  report, 
that  Africa  proves  a  more  genial  climate  to  the  men  of  colour 
than  any  portion  of  the  United  States.  They  enjoy,  in  Li 
beria,  even  now,  a  greater  immunity  from  sickness,  and  the 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  217 

First  selection  of  place  unfortunate. 

proportion  of  deaths  is  less  than  in  Baltimore,  Philadelphia, 
or  New-York.' 


*  Have  not  a  great  proportion  of  those  who  have  emigrated 
died  soon  after  their  arrival  ?' 

'  It  was  to  be  expected  that  during  the  early  years  of  the 
colony,  many  deaths  would  occur  for  want  of  suitable  houses, 
on  account  of  the  fatigue  and  danger  to  which  the  colonists 
were  necessarily  exposed  ;  and  in  consequence  of  the  irre 
gular  mode  of  life  at  first  almost  unavoidable. 

*  An  unfortunate    selection  was  made  for  the  first  emi 
grants,  which  increased  the  mortality  among  them.     They 
found  it  impossible  to  obtain  at  that  time  a  more  suitable 
place,  and  were  compelled,  by  a  variety  of  untoward  circum- 
stances,  to  make  a  temporary  establishment  in  the  low,  un 
healthy  island  of  Sherbro.     While  here   detained,    endea 
vouring  to  purchase  land,  they  were  attacked  by  fatal  disease, 
which  carried  off  the  agent  of  the  Society  and  twenty  out 
of  eighty  emigrants,  together  with  two  agents  sent  out  by 
the  United  States  Government.    The  second  expedition  also 
suffered  much  by  sickness  and  death.    And  deaths  were  also 
frequent  among  the  colonists  on  their  first  arrival  for  some 
time.     From  1827  to   1832,  however,  five  years,  not  one 
person  in  forty  of  those  from  the   Middle    and    Southern 
States,  died  in  Liberia  from  change  of  climate.     And  later 
experience  has  proved  that  no  unusual  danger  is  to  be  appre 
hended  by  any  who  are  sober,  and  have  no  radical  defect  of 
constitution.     The  change  of  climate,  it  was  to  be  expected, 
would  be  felt  more   sensibly  by  those  who  go  from  the 
Northern  States,  or  from  the  mountainous  parts  of  the  Mid 
dle  States. 

*  There  is  to  me  one  consideration  which  amidst  all  that 


218  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Discouragements  at  Jamestown  and  Plymouth. 

has  been  most  discouraging  in  the  early  mortality  of  the  Af 
rican  colony,  has  been  comforting.  It  is  this :  whilst  the 
mortality  is  to  be  attributed  but  partially  to  causes  which 
cannot  be  controlled,  the  evil  is  limited  to  a  single  genera 
tion:  but  the  good  accomplished  by  colonization  is  to 
bless  all  succeeding  generations.  The  natives  of  no  coun 
try  enjoy  better  health  than  those  of  Africa ;  and  the  chil 
dren  hereafter  born  to  those  who  emigrate,  will  be  Africans, 
and  know  nothing  of  the  dangers  which  their  forefathers  may 
have  encountered. 

'  The  settlement  of  new  places  is  generally  attended  with 
trials  by  sickness.  What  is  the  fact  in  respect  to  the  now  nour 
ishing  state  of  Louisiana  ?  The  colony  of  Ibberville  was  begun 
to  be  settled  in  1699,  and  in  the  ensuing  thirteen  years, 
2,500  colonists  were  landed  there,  out  of  whom  only  400 
whites  and  20  negroes  remained  at  the  end  of  that  time. 
On  the  Island  of  Orleans,  where  a  settlement  was  begun  in 
1717,  the  early  settlers  died  by  hundreds  ;  and  both  settle 
ments  were  given  up  once  or  twice,  by  those  who  began 
them,  and  commenced  anew  by  other  hands. 

'It  was  so  with  Jamestown:  it  was  so  with  Plymouth, 
although  in  a  northern  climate.  They  were  both  desolated 
by  sickness,  and  the  mortality  was  far  greater  than  it  has 
ever  been  in  Liberia.  Five  hundred  emigrants,  at  one  time 
landed  in  Jamestown,  in  Virginia,  and  in  less  than  five 
months  their  numbers  were  reduced  to  sixty.  Disaster  and 
defeat  seemed  to  embitter  all  the  struggles  of  the  Pilgrim 
fathers  at  Plymouth.  More  than  half  their  number  died  the 
first  winter.  And  yet  from  the  two  feeble  settlements,  at 
Plymouth  and  Jamestown,  has  sprung  a  population  which, 
in  spite  of  discouragements,  have  erected  towns,  cities,  and 
an  empire  ! 

*  It  has  been  remarked  in  regard  to  these  early  trials  of 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  219 

Difficulties  at  Sierra  Leone. 

colonies,  by  the  eloquent  and  excellent  Frelinghuysen,  that 
"  such  has  been  the  course  of  divine  Providence  with  all 
colonies,  of  which  either  sacred  or  profane  history  affords 
us  any  account,  that  He  intended  to  cherish  or  to  establish. 
It  is  the  moral  and  mental  discipline  which  God  would  pre 
scribe  ;  it  is  the  discipline,  of  all  others,  calculated  to  throw 
the  human  mind  upon  its  own  resources — to  try  its  strength 
— to  call  into  action  its  powers,  and,  if  there  be  energy 
within  it  or  about  it,  it  will  be  called  into  action.  It  tries 
its  strength — its  patience — its  fortitude.  In  fact  all  the  stern 
er  virtues  are  created  by  this  scheme  of  colonization.  And 
it  teaches,  above  all,  other  lessons,  for  man  to  learn — his 
deep  dependence  on  divine  power.  How  was  it  with  the 
Jews,  who  were  a  called  and  chosen  people  ?  Were  they 
not  subjected  to  trials  and  difficulties  ?  How  did  God  act 
toward  them  ?  After  years  of  gloomy  and  grinding  bon 
dage  in  Egypt,  did  he  not  send  them  to  the  land  of  pro 
mise  ?  He  knew  they  were  degraded  and  debased  by  mo 
ral  and  corporeal  bondage.  And  indeed  their  debasement 
we  clearly  learn  from  their  complaints.  He  put  them  to  the 
trials  which  await  colonization.  He  led  them  through  the 
howling  wilderness.  He  required  them  to  endure  fatigue 
— to  meet  the  enemy's  onslaught.  In  the  divine  wisdom 
and  mercy  they  were  subjected  to  these  conflicts,  dangers 
and  terrors,  both  by  night  and  by  day.  And  when  disci 
pline  had  done  its  office,  and  when  liberty  and  the  promised 
land  were  in  view,  (and  even  then,  they  enjoyed  not  a  bed 
of  down,)  even  then,  they  were  to  contend  for  every  inch  of 
land  they  were  about  to  acquire." 

'  In  respect  to  Liberia,  however,  we  are  not  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  reasoning  from  analogy  ;  we  have  facts : 
colonies  have  been  established  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and 
are  flourishing.  Sierra  Leone,  after  many  sad  reverses  in 


220  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Humanity  pleads  for  colonization. 

its  infancy,  is  now  a  thriving  territory  with  20,000  inhabi 
tants.  It  was  founded  under  the  most  unfavourable  circum 
stances,  those  who  first  composed  it,  coming  from  a  northern 
latitude,  Nova  Scotia,  or  the  streets  of  London.  Besides, 
bad  habits  prevailed  among  them,  and  did  more  for  their  de 
struction  than  the  climate. 

4  Another  consideration  has  been  one  of  interest  to  me, 
amidst  all  discouraging  reports  concerning  the  health  of  the 
first  emigrants :  if  colonies  can  be  once  planted  along  the 
shores  of  Africa,  and  the  slave-trade  cut  off,  a  vast  sacri 
fice  of  life  will  thereby  be  prevented.  In  a  single  slave- 
ship,  more  persons  have  perished,  often  in  indescribable 
agony,  than  have  died  from  the  influence  of  climate,  since 
the  origin  of  the  colony  of  Liberia.  The  slave-trade,  it  has 
been  well  remarked  by  Judge  Story  of  Massachusetts,  "de 
solates  whole  villages  and  provinces.  *  *  The  blood  of 
thousands  of  the  miserable  children  of  Africa  has  stained  her 
shores,  or  quenched  the  dying  embers  of  her  desolated 
towns,  to  glut  the  appetite  of  slave-dealers.  The  ocean  has 
received  in  its  deep  and  silent  bosom,  thousands  more,  who 
perished  from  disease  and  want,  during  their  passage  from 
their  native  homes"  to  foreign  climes. 

1  It  has  been  ascertained  that  an  average  of  not  less  than 
100,000  per  annum,  have  been  transported  from  Africa,  and 
that  half  the  number  have  ordinarily  died  within  two  years, 
either  during  the  passage  or  seasoning.  Fifty  thousand 
deaths  every  year,  occasioned  by  the  slave-trade !  In  the 
name  of  humanity  and  of  our  holy  religion,  then,  we  may 
ask  every  one  to  judge  whether  the  glorious  work  of  esta 
blishing  civilized  and  Christian  colonies  along  the  coast  of 
Africa  shall  be  abandoned,  because  some  few  suffer  and  die 
in  efforts  to  redeem  themselves  and  save  their  dying  fellow- 
uien  ?  The  amount  of  suffering  jwevented,  and  the  lives 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  221 

Honour  to  be  pioneers  in  this  cause. 

saved  by  the  American  Colonization  Society,  is  incalculable  ; 
vastly  more  than  all  the  sacrifice  of  life,  and  all  the  suffer 
ings  or  privations  which  will  ever  be  endured  in  accomplish 
ing  the  regeneration  of  that  great  continent  and  the  salva 
tion  of  generation  after  generation  of  untold  millions. 

t  To  be  useful,  is  to  be  blessed.  And  our  Saviour  has 
said  '*  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  They 
who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  colony  at  Liberia,  will  tes 
tify  that  they  have  already  reaped  a  rich  reward  for  all  their 
toils.  They  will  unitedly  declare  that  the  blessings  now 
theirs,  have  a  value  far  beyond  the  price  they  cost.  "When 
they  look  to  the  future — when  they  consider  the  privileges 
and  blessings  secured  to  their  posterity,  they  feel  that  the 
worth  of  these  is  inestimable.  And  they  who  fell  martyrs 
in  sounding  the  trump  of  jubilee  in  the  land  of  the  oppress 
ed — in  a  land  of  comparative  barbarism,  to  call  the  nations 
forth  to  the  light  and  blessings  of  civilized  life — in  a  land  of 
blood  and  crime,  to  hold  up  before  the  people  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  that  purity  and  peace,  the  hope  of  immortal  glory 
and  everlasting  songs  of  salvation,  may  supplant  the  dark 
influence  of  the  destroyer  of  souls,  have  fallen  in  a  noble 
attempt,  and  will  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  gene 
rations  yet  unborn. 

'A very  sensible  address  is  now  before  me,  adopted  "at 
a  numerous  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Monrovia,"  in  Li 
beria,  which  speaks  well  to  the  point.  The  meeting,  it 
seems,  was  called,  and  held  at  the  court-house  in  Monrovia, 
in  1827,  "  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  expediency  of 
uniting  in  an  address  to  the  coloured  people  of  the  United 
States."  In  the  address  they  say, — 

'  "  We  enjoy  health,  after  a  few  months'  residence  in  this 
country,  as  uniformly,  and  in  as  perfect  a  degree  as  we  pos 
sessed  that  blessing  in  our  native  country.  *  *  Death  occa- 

s2 


222  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Delightful  climate  for  blacks. 

sionally  takes  a  victim  from  our  number,  without  any  regard 
at  all  to  his  residence  in  the  country ;  but  we  never  hoped 
by  leaving  America  to  escape  the  common  lot  of  mortals. 
But  we  do  expect  to  live  as  long,  and  pass  this  life  with  as 
little  sickness  as  yourselves.  *  *  *  Nothing  like  an  epi 
demic  has  ever  appeared  in  the  colony ;  nor  can  we  learn 
from  the  natives,  that  the  calamity  of  a  sweeping  sickness 
ever  yet  visited  this  part  of  the  continent.  The  change 
from  a  temperate  to  a  tropical  country  is  a  great  one — too 
great  not  to  effect  the  health  more  or  less.  In  the  early  years 
of  the  colony,  want  of  good  houses,  the  great  fatigues  and 
dangers  of  the  settlers,  their  irregular  mode  of  living,  and 
the  discouragements  they  met  with,  greatly  helped  the  other 
causes  of  sickness  which  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent, 
and  w.as  attended  with  great  mortality.  But  we  look  back 
to  those  times  as  to  a  season  of  trial  long  past,  and  nearly 
forgotten/'  ' 

4 1  have  no  doubt,'  said  Caroline,  '  that  after  the  first  sea 
son,  Liberia  is  a  delightful  climate  for  the  blacks.  They 
have  constitutions  probably  better  adapted  to  that  climate 
than  to  ours,' 

4  Yes,  Caroline,  the  coloured  man  going  to  Africa,  goes  to 
the  land  of  his  fathers,  for  a  residence  in  which  nature  has 
peculiarly  fitted  him.  We  should  sicken  and  die  where  the 
native  African,  invigorated  under  the  influence  of  a  vertical 
sun,  glories  in  its  blaze,  and  grapples  with  the  lion  of  the 
desert.  Expose  the  African  to  the  cold  blasts  of  a  northern 
clime,  he  shivers  and  drags  out  a  miserable  existence,  whilst 
the  white  man  can  bare  his  bosom  to  the  blast.  "  Nature," 
says  Mr.  Custis,  "  seems  to  draw  a  line  of  demarcation  be 
tween  the  country  of  the  white  man  and  the  black." 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  223 

Need  fear  no  competition. 

1  It  sometimes  has  been  said  that  Europeans  will,  notwith 
standing  the  planting  of  colonies  along  the  coast,  and  after  all 
that  can  be  done  for  Africa,  hold  the  mouths  of  the  rivers 
emptying  round  the  Cape  of  Western  Africa  ;  and  that  the 
African  will  always,  therefore,  be  measurably  under  the  in 
fluence  of  a  promiscuous  white  population.  To  me,  how 
ever,  it  seems  most  obvious,  that  the  elastic  pressure  of  a  co 
loured  population  in  Africa  will,  and  must,  ultimately, 
exclude  all  other  people.  It  is  the  land  of  the  coloured  ; 
and  we  may  confidently  say  of  Africa, 

"Despite  of  every  yoke  she  bears, 
That  land  of  glory  still  is  theirs." 

The  advantage  in  physical  constitution  which  the  blacks 
will  enjoy,  is  one  which  will  give  them  decided  superiority 
to  all  other  people  as  occupants  of  the  soil.  The  puny  and 
sickly  colonies  of  other  nations  can  never  compete  with 
them.  The  sceptre  of  influence  will,  without  a  doubt,  be 
ultimately  wielded  in  Africa  by  those  whom  heaven  has  ap 
pointed  to  wield  it,  the  blacks  themselves ;  they  will  receive 
their  character  chiefly,  I  have  no  doubt,  from  emigrants 
going  from  our  own  shores. 

*  We  must  now  close  the  subject  for  the  present.  Each 
of  us,  I  trust,  can  say  in  conclusion,  from  the  heart,  of  that 
vast,  injured,  benighted,  but  awaking  continent, 

"  Oh  !  to  thy  godlike  destiny  arise — 
Awake,  and  meet  the  purpose  of  the  skies!"  fc 


224  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Aid  from  the  United  States. 


CONVERSATION   XXIII. 


"  The  removal  of  our  coloured  population  is,  I  think,  a  common  object, 
by  no  means  confined  to  the  slave  States,  although  they  are  more  immedi 
ately  interested  in  it.  The  whole  Union  would  be  strengthened  by  it,  and 
relieved  from  a  danger,  whose  extent  can  scarcely  be  estimated." 

Chief  Justice  Marshall. 


*•  You  said  in  your  last  conversation,  Pa,'  said  Henry,  '  that 
agents  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  went  out 
with  the  first  emigrants  sent  to  Africa  by  the  Colonization 
Society :  why  were  agents  sent  by  the  United  States  ?* 

'  In  the  act  of  Congress  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave- 
trade,  passed  in  the  year  1807,  there  was  a  clause  by  which 
Negroes  brought  into  the  United  States,  in  consequence  of 
the  law  authorizing  the  capture  of  vessels  engaged  in  the 
slave-trade,  were  to  be  "  subject  to  any  regulations  not  con 
travening  the  provisions  of  the  act,  which  the  legislatures 
of  the  several  States  and  Territories  might  make  for  the  dis 
posing  of  such  Negroes." 

4  By  an  act  of  the  Georgia  legislature,  in  1817,  captured 
Negroes  brought  into  Georgia  in  pursuance  of  the  aforesaid 
act  of  Congress,  were  to  be  sold,  or  delivered  to  the  Coloni 
zation  Society  to  be  returned  to  Africa.  A  slaver  contain- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  225 

Early  trials  of  the  colony. 

ing  thirty-eight  Negroes  was  captured  by  one  of  the  United 
States  vessels,  and  brought  into  Georgia.  The  Negroes 
were,  according  to  law,  advertised  for  sale.  The  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  availing  itself  of  the  provisions  of  the  law 
above  referred  to,  applied  for  the  slaves  to  be  returned  to 
Africa,  paid  as  was  necessary  the  expenses  incurred  on  their 
account,  and  rescued  the  victims  of  piratical  cupidity  from 
perpetual  slavery. 

*  Cases  of  this  kind  having  previously  occurred,  had  di 
rected  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  necessity  of  provid 
ing  somewhere  an  asylum  for  recaptured  Negroes,  and  a  law- 
had  been  enacted  authorizing  the  President  to  make  such 
regulations  and  arrangements  as  he  might  deem  expedient 
for  their  safe-keeping,  support,  and  removal  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  United  States,  and  also  to  appoint  a  proper  per 
son  or  persons  residing  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  as  agent  or 
agents,  in  the  fulfilment  of  such  arrangements  in  respect  to 
all  Negroes  seized  by  United  States'  vessels. 

'  It  was  thought  that  the  ends  of  this  act  could  be  better 
accomplished  by  the  aid  of  the  Colonization  Society ;  and 
accordingly,  the  first  expedition  to  Liberia,  in  1820,  was  by 
the  Colonization  Society  and  the  U.  S.  Government  in  con 
junction.  The  Elizabeth  was  chartered,  and  took  to  the 
coast  two  Government  agents,  one  Colonial  agent,  and  about 
eighty  emigrants,  the  latter  of  whom  were  to  be  employed 
at  the  expense  of  the  Government  in  preparing  accommoda 
tions  for  the  reception  of  the  recaptured  Negroes.' 

'  This  expedition,  Sir,  you  have  said,  was  very  unfortu 
nate  in  their  location,  which  you  said  was  on  the  river  Sher- 
bro  :  is  that  in  Liberia  ?' 

'No,  Henry;  it  is  200  miles  north  of  Liberia,  and  100 


226  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Ashmun's  defence  of  the  colony. 

miles  south  of  Sierra  Leone.     It  was  not  until  1822,  that  a 
permanent  location  was  obtained  at  Cape  Mesurado.' 

'  The  colony  had  much  difficulty  with  the  natives  at  its 
commencement,  had  it  not  ?' 


'  They  had ;  and  perhaps  it  has  been  correctly  said  that 
no  struggle  of  ancient  or  modern  times  surpasses  the  defence 
which  that  little  band  of  colonists  made.  The  lamented 
Ashmun,  forced  in  opposition  to  all  his  habits  and  feelings, 
to  become  a  warlike  commander,  acquitted  himself  in  a  man 
ner  that  discovered  military  skill  of  the  highest  order. — 
Without  ever  aspiring  to  military  renown,  he  shone  forth, 
a  hero  in  arms,  whose  coolness,  firmness,  wisdom,  and  cou 
rage  could  hardly  be  surpassed. 

4  The  little  band  of  thirty-five  African  emigrants,  about 
one  half  of  whom  only  were  engaged  in  action,  were  threat 
ened  by  a  host,  whose  numbers  were  untold,  and  destruc 
tion  seemed  inevitable.  Ashmun  was  himself  sick,  of  fever 
— and  was,  besides,  in  great  affliction,  having  just  buried 
his  wife,  an  amiable  and  heroic  woman  who  insisted  on 
sharing  her  husband's  toils  and  dangers  in  Africa  ;  but  not 
withstanding,  he  rose  from  the  bed  of  sickness,  and  day  by 
day,  after  tossing  with  the  delirium  of  a  burning  fever 
through  the  night,  spent  his  time  in  directing  his  little  band 
in  constructing  their  hasty  and  imperfect  defences,  and  teach 
ing  them  to  manage  their  artillery,  and  how  to  succo-ur  each 
other  in  their  defence. 

'  The  result  was — the  natives  were  successfully  repulsed, 
and  the  colony  was  saved  from  destruction  ;  whilst  such  an 
impression  was  made  on  the  natives  as  to  put  to  rest,  pro 
bably  for  ever,  any  thought  of  a  similar  attempt.. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  227 

Ashmun's  death. 

'  I  suppose,'  said  Henry,  '  it  is  in  reference  to  this  ex 
ploit  particularly,  that  Ashmun  is  sometimes  called  the  foun 
der  of  the  colony  of  Liberia  ? 

'  Mr.  Ashmun  died  at  New  Haven — I  have  seen  his  mo 
nument — he  died  soon  after  arriving  there  from  Liberia  for 
his  health.  But,  falling  a  victim  to  his  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  colonization,  I  am  sure  that  he  nobly  died,  in  a  noble 
cause.' 

'  Yes  :  Mr.  Ashmun's  great  and  untiring  efforts  continuing 
through  nearly  six  years  of  constant  anxiety  and  labour  in 
Africa,  destroyed  his  physical  constitution  and  brought  him 
to  a  premature  grave  ;  but  he  fell  nobly. 

'  Mr.  Ashmun's  life,  so  far  at  least  as  is  connected  with 
Africa,  in  which  we  are  now  more  particularly  interested, 
you  will  find  full  of  interest.' 

'  Where  was  Mr.  Ashmun  born,  Pa,  and  how  came  he  to 
embark  in  the  colonization  cause,  as  an  agent  to  Africa  ?' 

'  Mr.  A.,  whose  Christian  name  was  Jehudi,  was  born  in 
Champlain,  N.  Y.,  in  1794.  I  will  relate,  if  you  please, 
some  of  the  leading  incidents  of  his  history  as  they  occur, 
on  recollection. 

*  In  his  childhood,  Mr.  A.  was  thoughtful  and  reserved, 
remarkably  fond  of  books  and  ambitious  of  literary  distinc 
tion.  In  his  studies  he  made  rapid  progress.  He  became  a 
devoted  Christian  in  the  morning  of  his  days.  He  graduated 
at  Burlington  College,  Vt.,  and  soon  after  entering  the  mi 
nistry  was  elected  Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Bangor,  Me.  After  leaving  that  Seminary,  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  He  prepared 
the  Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Bacon,  the  earliest  martyr 


228  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Ashmun  dies  praying  for  Africa. 

in  the  cause  of  colonization  ;  and,  after  other  efforts  to  ad 
vance  the  cause,  by  which  his  feelings  were  more  and  more 
deeply  interested,  he  embarked  for  Africa  in  1822.  In 
Africa,  he  found  himself  unexpectedly  in  a  situation  where 
he  must  be  of  necessity  legislator,  engineer,  soldier,  physi 
cian  ;  almost  every  thing  that  was  needed,  his  benevolent 
heart  inclined,  and  his  superior  talents  enabled  him  to  be. 
Emphatically  a  good  man,  he  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the 
colonists,  and  of  the  Board,  and  shared  in  the  warmest  affec 
tions  of  all  that  knew  him. 

'  The  scene,  at  his  death,  is  represented  as  one  of  true 
moral  sublimity.  He  died,  as  you  have  said,  at  New  Ha 
ven,  a  few  days  after  his  return  from  Africa,  whose  shores 
he  had  left  with  feeble  health,  hoping  to  find  the  voyage  and 
a  short  residence  in  his  native  country,  conducive  to  its  res 
toration.  It  was  otherwise  ordered.  His  last  moments  were 
spent  in  fervent  prayer.  Africa  was  not  forgotten.  "  O 
bless  the  colony,"  was  his  cry,  "and  that  poor  people 
among  whom  I  have  laboured" 

'  He  has  left  a  name  to  be  remembered  by  generations  to 
come,  when  many  who  may  now  be  far  more  conspicuous, 
will  be  forgotten.  The  gratitude  of  the  Colonization  So 
ciety*  directed  the  monument  to  his  memory  which  you 


*  A  monument  has  also  been  raised  to  his  memory  in  Liberia.  The  mo 
nument  at  New  Haven  is  after  the  model  of  an  ancient  monument  still  in 
perfection  at  Rome,  "  the  tomb  of  Scipio."  Dr.  Silliman  describes  it  as 
"  grave,  grand,  simple,  and  beautiful."  It  is  constructed  of  the  Connecticut 
red  sand  stone,  of  the  finer  variety,  seven  feet  long,  four  high,  three  and  a 
half  wide,  raised  on  a  foundation  of  one  foot.  It  is  said  above,  that  the 
gratitude  of  the  Colonization  Society  directed  this  monument ;  but  it  is  be 
lieved  and  should  be  stated  that  the  whole  expense  was  borne  by  the  spon 
taneous  contributions  and  united  liberality  of  friends  of  humanity  and  re 
ligion,  preventing  the  necessity  of  making  any  appropriation  towards  it  from 
the  funds  of  the  Society,  and  at  the  same  time  furnishing  a  most  honoura- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  229 

Ashmun. 

saw  at  New  Haven,  but  his  best  monument  is  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people,  and  that  record  of  him  which  is  on  high. 

"  Although  no  sculptured  form  should  deck  the  place, 
Or  marble  monument  those  ashes  grace, 
Still,  for  the  deeds  of  worth,  which  he  has  done, 
Would  flowers  unfading  flourish  o'er  his  tomb."  ' 

*  A  favourite   poetess   has  embalmed  his   memory,'  said 
Caroline  :  *  shall  I  repeat  her  words  ?' 

"  Whose  is  yon  sable  bier? 

Why  move  the  throng  so  slow  ? 
Why  doth  that  lonely  mother's  tear, 

In  sudden  anguish  flow  ? 
Why  is  that  sleeper  laid 

To  rest,  in  manhood's  pride  ? 
How  gain'd  his  cheek  such  pallid  shade? 

I  spake — but  none  replied. 

The  hoarse  wave  murmured  low, 

The  distant  surges  yoar'd — 
And  o'er  the  sea,  in  tones  of  wo, 

A  deep  response  was  poured. 
I  heard  sad  Afric  mourn, 

Upon  her  billowy  strand  ; 
A  shield  was  from  her  bosom  torn, 

An  anchor  from  her  hand. 

Ah  !  well  I  know  Ihee  now, 

Though  foreign  suns  would  trace 
Deep  lines  of  death  upon  thy  brow— 

Thou  friend  of  misery's  race  ; 
Their  leader,  when  the  blast 

Of  ruthless  war  swept  by  ; 
Their  teacher,  when  the  storm  was  past, 

Their  guide  to  worlds  on  high. 

able  attestation  of  the  gratitude  and  respect  with  which  his  devotion  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  world  is  regarded,  and  of  the  sincere  affection  with 
which  his  memory  is  cherished  by  those  "  who  have  learned  to  love  and 
to  admire  the  sublimity  and  glory  of  virtue." 

T 


230  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY, 

Ashmun. 

But  o'er  the  lowly  tomb, 

Where  thy  soul's  idol  lay, 
I  saw  thee  rise  above  the  gloom, 

And  hold  thy  changeless  way. 
Stern  sickness  woke  a  flame, 

That  on  thy  vigour  fed — 
But  deathless  courage  nerv'd  the  frame, 

When  health  and  strength  had  fled. 

Spirit  of  power — pass  on ! 

Thy  homeward  wing  is  free  ; 
Earth  may  not  claim  thee  for  her  son — 

She  hath  no  chain  for  thee : 
Toil  might  not  bow  thee  down, 

Nor  sorrow  check  thy  race — 
Nor  pleasure  win  thy  birthright  crown,- 

Go  to  thy  honour'd  place  1" 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  231 

Government  of  Liberia. 


CONVERSATION  XXIV. 


"  We  must  plead  the  cause  of  Africa  on  her  own  shores.  We  must  en 
lighten  the  Africans  themselves  on  the  nature  of  this  evil.  We  must  raise 
in  their  minds  a  fixed  abhorrence  of  its  enormities.  There  will  be  no  ships 
with  human  cargoes  if  we  cut  off  the  supply.  We  must  by  our  settlements 
point  the  African  kidnapper  to  a  more  profitable  commerce  than  that  in  the 
blood  and  heart-strings  of  his  fellow-men." — Frelinghuysen. 


*  WE  should  like  to  know  this  evening,  Pa,  something  more 
of  the  colony  at  Liberia.  What  is  the  government  of  the 
colony  ?' 

'  The  government  is  in  a  great  measure  republican  ;  and  is 
designed  expressly  to  prepare  the  colonists  ably  and  success 
fully  to  govern  themselves. 

'  The  present  form  of  government  was  established  in  Au 
gust  1824.  It  was  submitted  to  the  assembled  colonists,  and 
by  them  unanimously  adopted.  The  colonial, agent  receives 
his  appointment  from  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Coloni 
zation  Society,  and  it  is  generally  expected  that  he  will  be  a 
white  man.  All  the  other  officers  are  men  of  colour,  the  most 
important  of  whom  are  elected  annually  by  the  people.  Be 
sides  other  officers,  a  Board  of  Agriculture,  of  Public  Works, 
of  Health,  &c.  are  chosen,  and  the  whole  business  of  the 
colony  is  conducted  with  spirit  and  with  much  wisdom.  A 
court  of  justice  is  established,  which  consists  of  the  agent, 


232  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Literary  advantages. 

and  two  judges  chosen  by  the  people,  and  exercises  jurisdic 
tion  over  the  whole  colony,  meeting  monthly  at  Monrovia. 

*  It  is  a  highly  honourable  fact  that  no  capital  crime  has  ever 
been  committed  in  the  colony.  The  crimes  usually  brought 
before  the  court  are  thefts  committed  by  natives  within  the 
colonial  jurisdiction.' 

'  Do  the  colonists  pay  proper  attention  to  education,  and 
have  they  any  considerable  literary  advantages  ?' 

'  The  subject  of  education  has  ever  been  one  of  primary 
importance  with  the  Board  of  Colonization,  and  the  interests 
of  literature  are  promoted  as  far  as  circumstances  permit.  In 
1830,  the  Board  established  permanent  schools  in  the  towns 
of  Monrovia,  Caldwell,  and  Millsburgh.  They  adopted  a 
thorough  system  of  instruction  which  is  now  in  successful 
operation.  There  are  two  female  schools  conducted  on  libe 
ral  principles,  one  of  which  was  established  by  a  lady  in 
Philadelphia,  who  sent  out  the  necessary  bocks  and  teachers. 
It  is  said  that  there  is  not  a  child  or  youth  in  the  colony  but 
is  provided  with  an  appropriate  school.  Some  of  these 
schools  have  valuable  libraries. 

'  There  is  a  public  library  at  Monrovia  which  contains  be 
tween  1200  and  2000  volumes.  A  printing  press  is  in  ope 
ration  there,  issuing  a  weekly  and  well  conducted  gazette, 
the  "  Liberia  Herald."  It  is  interesting  to  look  over  this 
sheet  and  notice  the  various  advertisements,  notices  of  auc 
tions,  parades,  marriages,  &c.  together  with  its  marine  list, 
and  items  of  news,  as  if  the  print  were  issued  from  the  midst 
of  an  old  and  long  established  community.' 

1 1  do  not  see  but  they  have  in  Liberia  already  the  ele 
ments  of  wealth  and  greatness.  They  are  beginning  to  be  a 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  233 

Testimony  of  Dr.  iSharie. 

commercial  community  ;  and,  with  an  agricultural  interior  in 
prospect,  and  they  a  civilized  and  Christian  people,  what  is 
there  to  prevent  their  ultimate  prosperity  ?' 


*  Their  prospects  are  bright,  Henry,  very  bright.  Their 
progress,  hitherto,  has  certainly  been  rapid  and  truly  won 
derful.  Dr.  Shane,  of  Cincinnati,  went  with  a  company  of 
emigrants  to  Liberia  in  1832,  sailing  from  New-Orleans ; 
and,  among  other  things,  writes,  "  I  see  not  in  Liberia  as 
fine  and  splendid  mansions  as  in  the  United  States  ;  nor  as 
extensive  and  richly  stocked  farms  as  the  well  tilled  lands  of 
Ohio ;  but  I  see  a  fine  and  very  fertile  country,  inviting  its 
poor  and  oppressed  sons  to  thrust  in  their  sickles  and  gather 
up  its  fullness.  I  here  see  many  who  left  the  United  States 
in  straightened  circumstances,  living  with  all  the  comforts  of 
life  around  them;  enjoying  a  respectable  and  useful  station 
in  society,  and  wondering  that  their  brethren  in  the  United 
States,  who  have  it  in  their  power,  do  not  flee  to  this  asylum 
of  happiness  and  liberty,  where  they  can  enjoy  all  the  una- 
lienable  rights  of  man.  *  *  I  do  not  think  an  unpreju 
diced  person  can  visit  here  without  becoming  an  ardent  and 
sincere  friend  of  colonization.  I  can  attribute  the  apathy 
and  indifference  on  which  it  is  looked  by  many,  as  arising 
from  ignorance  an  the  subject  alone,  and  would  that  every 
free  coloured  man  in  the  United  States  could  get  a  glimpse  of 
his  brethren,  their  situation  and  prospects.  *  *  *  Let 
but  the  coloured  man  come  and  see  for  himself,  and  the  tear 
of  gratitude  will  beam  in  his  eye,  as  he  looks  forward  to  the 
not  far  distant  day,  when  Liberia  shall  take  her  stand  among 
the  nations  of  the  world,  and  proclaim  abroad  an  empire 
founded  by  benevolence,  offering  a  home  to  the  poor,  op 
pressed,  and  weary.  Nothing  but  a  want  of  knowledge  of 
Liberia,  prevents  thousands  of  honest,  industrious  free  blacks 


284  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Testimony  of  Captains  Kennedy,  Nicholson,  Abels,  and  a  British  officer. 

from  rushing  to  this  heaven-blessed  land,  where  liberty  and 
religion,  with  all  their  blessings,  are  enjoyed." 

'  Are  the  colonists  generally  contented  and  happy  in  their 
situation  ?' 

'Captain  Kennedy,  who  visited  Liberia  in  1831,  says, 
"  With  impressions  unfavourable  to  the  scheme  of  the  Colo 
nization  Society,  I  commenced  my  inquiries."  The  colo 
nists  "  considered  that  they  had  started  into  a  new  existence. 
*  *  They  felt  themselves  proud  in  their  attitude."  He 
further  says,  "many  of  the  settlers  appear  to  be  rapidly  ac 
quiring  property  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  are  doing  better 
for  themselves  and  for  their  children,  in  Liberia,  than  they 
could  do  in  any  other  part  of  the  world." 

4- Captain  Nicholson,  of  the  United  States'. Navy,  gave  as 
favourable  a  report.  Captain  Abels  says,  "  My  expectations 
were  more  than  realized.  I  saw  no  intemperance,  nor  did  I 
hear  a  profane  word  uttered  by  any  one.  I  know  of  no 
place  where  the  Sabbath  seems  to  be  more  respected  than  in 
Monrovia." 

'A  distinguished  British  naval  officer,  who  passed  three 
years  on  the  African  coast,  published  a  favourable  notice  of 
the  colony,  in  the  Amulet  for  1832,  in  which  he  bears  this 
testimony  : — "  The  complete  success  of  this  colony  is  a 
proof  that  the  Negroes  are,  by  proper  care  and  attention,  as 
susceptible  of  .the  habits  of  industry,  and  the  improvements 
of  social  life,  as  any  other  race  of  human  beings ;  and  that 
the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  black  people  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  by  means  of  such  colonies,  is  not  chimeri 
cal.  Wherever  the  influence  of  the  colony  extends,  the 
slave-trade  has  been  abandoned  by  the  natives,  and  the  peace 
able  pursuits  of  legitimate  commerce  established  in  its  place. 
They  apt  oaly  live  o,n.  terms  of  harmony  and  good  will  to- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  235 

Testimony  of  Governor  Mechlin  and  Captain  Shernmn. 

gether,  but  the  colonists  are  looked  upon  with  a  certain  de 
gree  of  respect  by  those  of  their  own  colour ;  and  the  force 
of  their  example  is  likely  to  have  a  strong  effect  in  inducing 
the  people  about  them  to  adopt  it.  A  few  colonies  of  this 
kind,  scattered  along  the  coast,  would  be  of  infinite  value  in 
improving  the  natives."  Governor  Mechlin  has  said,  "As 
to  the  morals  of  the  colonists,  I  consider  them  much  better 
than  those  of  the  people  of  the  United  States ;  i.  e.  you 
may  take  an  equal  number  of  the  inhabitants  from  any  sec 
tion  of  the  Union,  and  you  will  find  more  drunkenness,  more 
profane  swearers  and  Sabbath -breakers,  than  in  Liberia. 
You  rarely  hear  an  oath,  and  as  to  riots  and  breaches  of  the 
peace,  I  recollect  but  one  instance,  and  that  of  a  trifling  na 
ture,  that  has  come  under  my  notice  since  I  assumed  the  go 
vernment  of  the  colony."  Captain  Sherman  has  said, 
"  There  is  a  greater  proportion  of  moral  and  religious  cha 
racters  in  Monrovia  than  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia." 

'  Have  there  not  been  some  accounts  of  a  contrary  cha 
racter  ?' 

*  There  have  been  some  few  instances  of  dissatisfied  emi 
grants,  who  have  made,  in  some  respects,  a  different  report; 
but  it  has  been  confidently  believed  that  they  were  prompted 
by  feelings  growing  out  of  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  their 
individual  case.  They  were  certainly  not  of  such  a  charac-- 
ter  as  to  invalidate  or  discredit  the  testimony  of  the  many 
judicious,  impartial,  and  highly  respectable  persons  who 
have  borne  opposite  testimony.' 

1 1  should  think,  Sir,  from  what  you  have  told  us  of  the 
number  of  the  churches  in  Liberia,  that  the  religious,  privi 
leges  of  the  colony  are  great.' 


236  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Religious  privileges. 

4  Much  is  done  to  promote  the  cause  of  religion  in  the  co 
lony,  and  this  seems  always  to  be  an  object  of  much  solici 
tude  on  the  part  of  the  Colonization  Society.  The  churches 
in  Liberia  are  generally  well  supplied  with  respectable  and 
faithful  ministers.  In  all  these  churches  there  are  Sunday 
schools  established,  to  which  the  most  promising  young  peo 
ple  in  the  colony  have  attached  themselves  either  as  teachers 
or  as  scholars.  The  Sunday  schools  are  also  furnished  with 
libraries. 

'  I  have  in  the  pamphlet  before  me,  which  was  printed  in 
Monrovia,  the  "  minutes  of  the  first  Convention  of  the  Li 
beria  Baptist  Association,"  by  which  it  appears  that  there 
are  in  the  colony  of  Liberia  six  Baptist  churches,  compris 
ing  about  220  members,  located  in  the  different  settlements. 
These' minutes  represent  th«  Baptist  churches  as  in  a  flour 
ishing  condition ;  and  the  proceedings  of  the  convention 
and  their  circular  to  the  churches,  evince  talent,  judgment, 
and  piety,  of  a  very  respectable  order.  I  will  give  you  one 
extract  from  these  minutes  : 

"  Princes  shall  come  out  of  Egypt,  Ethiopia  shall  soon 
stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God, — is  the  prediction  of  a  holy 
prophet,  uttered  ages  antecedent  to  the  advent  of  the  Mes 
siah.  And  when  we  reflect  on  the  midnight  darkness,  which, 
from  time  immemorial,  has  shroudod  this  portion  of  Africa, 
we  hail  with  rapture,  the  first  dawning  of  that  glorious  gos 
pel-day  which  is  signified  in  this  oracle.  *  *  *  *  He,  with 
whom  a  thousand  years  is  a  day,  and  a  day  a  thousand 
years,  works  His  own  sovereign  will,  and  effects  His  pur 
poses  of  grace  and  goodness,  in  a  manner  above  the  com 
prehension  of  men.  For  ages,  Africa  has  been  '  meted  out 
and  trodden  down.'  Her  deep  moral  degradation  seems,  by 
universal  consent,  to  have  been  justification  in  regarding  her 
as  lawful  plunder,  and  as  a  land  on  which  a  curse  rests.  But 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  237 

Religious  privileges. 

we  rejoice  that  these  days  are  going  by.  The  darkness  of 
ages  is  yielding  to  the  bright  rising  of  the  «  Sun  of  righte 
ousness.'  Idolatry  and  superstition  are  retiring  before  Chris 
tianity  and  civilization,  and  on  the  mountain  top,  once  de 
filed  by  sacrifices  to  devils,  the  banner  of  the  cross  is  un 
furled,  while  a  voice  in  the  wilderness  is  proclaiming  :  «  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand,'  repent  and  believe  the 
gospel." 

« I  have  here  also  the  "  Report  of  the  Liberia  Mission  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  minutes  of  their 
Annual  Conference  in  Liberia  in  1835."  This  document  is 
full  of  interest,  and  displays  the  same  zeal,  energy,  and 
ability  which  you  find  generally  among  the  colonists.  Of 
the  conference,  the  report  says,  "The  greatest  harmony  and 
peace  prevailed  during  our  session,  arid  it  is  confidently 
hoped  that  this  little  band  of  ambassadors  for  Christ  have 
gone  to  their  respective  appointments  with  increasing  zeal  in 
the  cause  of  their  Divine  Master,  and  holy  resolutions  to 
spend  and  be  spent  in  the  blessed  work  of  winning  souls 
for  God.  *  *  *  Our  love-feast  and  sacramental  occasions 
were  attended  by  manifestations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God, 
in  the  quickening  of  his  children,  the  conviction  and  conver 
sion  of  souls,  anil  the  spread  of  Divine  truth.  The  altar 
was  thronged  on  the  last  evening  with  weeping,  broken 
hearted  seekers  of  Christ  and  his  great  salvation.  Having 
been  very  affectionately  requested  by  our  brethren  of  both 
Baptist  churches  to  occupy  their  pulpits  throughout  the 
meeting,  and  especially  on  the  Sabbath,  we  appointed  la 
bourers  accordingly  ;  so  that  the  word  of  life  was  dispensed 
nine  times  on  Sunday  in  the  town  of  Monrovia  by  preach 
ers  of  the  Methodist  conference.  May  he  who  giveth  the 
increase,  water  the  good  seed  from  on  high,  that  it  may 
bring  forth  abundantly  to  his  eternal  glory."  It  would  seem 


238  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Religious  privileges. 

by  the  minutes  that  the  number  of  ministers  of  this  deno 
mination  in  the  colony,  was,  at  the  beginning  of  1835, 
twelve ;  and  the  number  of  communicants  upwards  of  200. 
The  report  also  speaks  of  the  appointment  of  a  missionary 
"  for  the  interior  of  Africa,  to  carry  the  light  of  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  into  the  dark  regions  of  this  benighted 
land."  The  appointment,  it  is  said,  seems  to  be  regarded 
by  the  members  of  the  conference  with  the  warmest  appro 
bation,  and  one  good  result  already  discovered  from  it  is  the 
awakening  a  missionary  spirit  among  the  preachers.  Several 
are  ready  to  say,  "  Here  are  we,  send  us.  We  covet  the 
privilege  of  carrying  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  tribes." 

'  The  Report  concludes,  "  If  we  are  to  judge  from  the 
appearance  of  the  fields  around  us,  which  are  already 
4  white  unto  harvest,'  we  should  conclude  that  '  the  set  time 
to  favour  Zion  has  come,'  yea,  that  '  now  is  the  accepted 
time,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation.'  Men  and  brethren,  help  ! 
O  help  to  disenthral  poor  bleeding  Africa  from  the  hellish 
grasp  of  the  enemy  of  all  righteousness  !  Help  to  promote 
the  moral  and  religious  prosperity  of  this  infant  colony,  des 
tined  as  it  is  to  be  rendered  the  savour  of  life  unto  life  to  this 
benighted  continent !" 

*  In  a  number  of  the  Liberia  Herald,  which  is  now  before 
me,  dated  February  28,  1836,  I  find  pleasing  evidence  of  the 
advancement  of  the  colony  in  all  that  is  good,  and  of  the 
rich  blessings  which  God  designs  to  pour  through  it  upon 
a  benighted  continent,  in  the  fact  that  a  number  of  natives 
who  had  been  brought  under  the  influence  of  the  gospel, 
and  had  been  for  some  time  communicants  in  one  of  the 
Baptist  churches,  have  been  dismissed  from  that  particular 
church  to  form  a  new  one  in  a  situation  more  advantageous 
to  their  extended  usefulness.  I  will  give  you  the  article 
announcing  this  event,  as  I  find  it  in  the  Monrovia  paper : 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  239 

Religious  privileges. 

"  On  Sunday,  the  7th  inst.,  thirty-six  native  Africans,  resi 
dent  at  New  Georgia,  late  members  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  in  this  place,  having  been  dismissed  by  letters,  were 
brought  into  visibility  as  a  church,  in  the  place  of  their  resi 
dence.  Sermon  by  Rev.  Dr.  Skinner,  charge  and  right  hand 
of  fellowship  by  Rev.  H.  Teague,  and  concluding  prayer 
by  Rev.  A.  W.  Anderson.  The  exercises  of  the  occasion 
were  truly  solemnly  pleasing  and  impressive.  They  na 
turally  threw  the  mind  back  to  the  period  when  they  who 
were  thus  solemnly  dedicating  themselves  to  God,  to  be 
constituted  into  a  '  golden  candlestick'  from  which  the  Di 
vine  light  is  to  chase  the  surrounding  gloom,  were  in  the 
darkness  of  nature,  without  God,  without  revelation,  and 
consequently  without  the  hope  it  inspires.  These  reflec 
tions  seemed  to  produce  a  reaction  of  the  mind,  and  threw 
it  on  an  immoveable  foundation,  the  promise  that  '  Ethiopia 
shall  soon  stretch  forth  her  hands  unto  God.'  On  this  cir* 
cumstance,  the  mind  seemed  invited  to  repose,  as  an  earnest 
of  the  full  completion  of  the  promise,  and  earnestly  to  ejacu 
late,  '  Lord,  let  thy  kingdom  come.'  ' 

'  I  must  give  you  one  more  extract  from  the  same  paper. 
It  is  a  communication  from  a  correspondent  of  the  Herald, 
in  Monrovia,  and  relates  to  the  dedication  of  a  Presbyterian 
church  :  "  Mr.  Editor,  as  every  circumstance  which  has  any 
relation  to  the  spreading  of  our  blessed  religion  in  Africa, 
must  have  a  tendency  to  give  satisfaction  to  every  lover  and 
follower  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  you  will  confer  a 
favour  on  one  of  your  constant  readers  by  giving  publication 
to  this.  Having  understood  that  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  was  to  be  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God  on  the 
26th  November,  I  attended,  and  was  happy  to  find  the  prin 
cipal  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  present  on  so  inte^ 
resting  an  occasion.  Every  denomination  of  saints  seemed 


240  CONVERSATIONS  OX   SLAVERY. 

Religious  privileges. 

to  rejoice  that  another  temple  had  been  erected  and  dedicated 
to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God.  It  was  enough  that  the 
pure  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  was  to  be  inculcated  from  that 
sacred  pulpit,  and,  as  that  servant  of  God,  the  Rev.  C.  Teage, 
remarked,  that  where  he  then  stood  preaching  the  dedication 
sermon,  sixteen  years  past,  the  Devil's  bush  stood.  What 
skeptic  could  doubt  that  colonization  and  missionary  enter 
prise  had  done  much  good.  The  service  commenced  at  11 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  by  singing  a  hymn  selected  for  the  occasion, 
and  reading  the  8th  chapter  of  the  2d  book  of  Kings,  by 
the  Pastor,  Rev.  James  Eden;  sermon  by  Rev.  C.  Teage  ; 
concluding  prayer  by  Rev.  A.  D.  Williams,  of  the  M.  E. 
Church.  How  truly  animating  it  is  to  see  temples  arise 
for  the  worship  of  God,  where  not  long  since  there  was  no 
thing  to  be  heard  but  the  savage  yell  of  the  native,  or  the 
clinking  of  the  poor  slaves'  chains.  On  Sunday  the  27th 
December,  Mr.  H.  B.  Matthews  was  ordained  a  ruling  elder 
of  the  church,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson  of  Cape  Palmas." 

1 1  do  not  see,  Pa,  why  the  Colonization  Society  and  the 
interests  of  the  colony  should  be  so  virulently  opposed  as 
they  are  by  many  ?' 

'  It  is  strange  that  it  should  be  opposed  by  so  many  from 
whom  we  should  have  expected  better  things ;  and  especially 
since  something,  it  is  admitted  by  all,  must  be  done,  and 
since  no  better  scheme  has  been  devised.' 

1  Should  not  the  mighty  scheme  of  colonization  be 
realized  in  all  its  parts  and  to  its  utmost  extent,'  said  Caro 
line,  *  blessings  will  nevertheless  be  attained,  it  seems  to 
me,  which  will  abundantly  repay  every  effort  and  sacrifice 
made.* 

*  Great  good  has  already  been  done,  and  far  more  than 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY.  241 

Colonization  a  good  cause. — Good  has  been  done. 

proportionate  to  the  efforts  made.  The  germ  of  an  Ameri 
cano-African  empire  has  been  planted  ;  and  even  if  Coloni 
zation  should  for  ever  cease,  that  colony  will  extend  and 
extend,  I  doubt  not,  until  its  influence  shall  overshadow  the 
continent.  The  plan  will  succeed.  Heaven's  blessing  will 
attend  it.  Glorious  things  are  in  store  for  Africa.  That  con 
tinent  has  a  rich  blessing  in  the  Liberia  colony.' 

'  It  appears  to  me,  Pa,  that  the  object  is  one  of  the  most 
noble  philanthropy ;  we  have  read  of  the  philanthropic  spi 
rit  of  a  Howard,  and  have  admired :  but  here  is  a  philanthro 
py  that  seeks  to  disenthral  and  elevate  two  millions  of  out 
casts  who  are  now  among  ourselves,  and  to  establish  the 
liberties  and  secure  the  best  good  of  a  continent.' 

'  And  that  continent,  Caroline,  is  estimated  as  containing 
fifty  millions  of  immortal  souls  /' 

'  Truly  a  noble  cause  !' 

*  A  noble  cause,  indeed  ;  and  we  may  all,  if  we  will,  enjoy 
the  honour  of  engaging  in  its  interests,  and  of  helping  for 
ward  this  blessed  enterprise. 

'  In  our  next  conversation  I  shall  call  your  attention  to 
some  further  progress  in  the  great  and  good  work,  as  exhi 
bited  in  the  more  recent  establishment  of  the  sub-colony  at 
Bassa  Cove.' 


242  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Young  Men's  Colonization  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 


CONVERSATION  XXV. 


"  Non  enim  est  ulla  res  in  qua  proprius  ad  Deorum  numen  virtus  accedat 
humana,  quam  civitates  aut  condere  novas,  aut  conservare  jam  conditas." 

Cicero. 


«  IN  our  last  conversation,  I  promised  you  some  account  of 
another  enterprise  in  connexion  with  the  colony  at  Liberia, 
by  which  the  prospects  of  the  Colonization  cause  have  been 
greatly  brightened,  and  our  hearts  encouraged.  This  enter 
prise  is  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  the  Young  Men's  Colo 
nization  Society  of  Pennsylvania.  Of  the  origin  of  this 
Society  and  its  success,  I  must  give  you  a  brief  history. 

'  The  YOUNG  MEN'S  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY  OF  PENN 
SYLVANIA,  was  organized  May,  1834.  This  Society,  acting 
as  auxiliary  to  the  American  Colonization  Society,  was  form 
ed  with  the  design  of  pursuing  strictly  a  system  of  political 
economy  which  shall  foster  with  special  care  the  agricultu 
ral  interests  of  the  colony  by  them  established,  checking  the 
influence  of  petty  and  itinerant  traffickers  which  has  been 
found  detrimental  in  the  other  colonies,  excluding  from  the 
colony  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  and  withholding  the  com 
mon  temptations  and  means  for  any  aggressions  upon  the 
native  population  of  Africa.  The  great  principles  upon 
which  the  Society  professes  to  act,  are  thus  expressed  by 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  243 

First  expedition. — Interesting  coincidences. 

their   philanthropic  and  distinguished  Secretary  of  foreign 
correspondence,  ELLIOTT  CRESSON,  ESQ.,  to  whose  warm 
hearted  and  untiring  efforts  in  this  cause,  much  is  to  be  at 
tributed  : — 
"  1.  Entire  temperance  in  every  colonist : 

2.  Total  abstinence  from  trade  in  ardent  spirits  and  arts 
of  war  : 

3.  An  immediate  Christian  influence  and  operation  upon 
surrounding  heathen  : 

All  designed  to  accomplish  the  second  article  of  (its)  con 
stitution, — '  to  provide  for  civilizing  and  christianizing  Af 
rica,  through  the  direct  instrumentality  of  coloured  emigrants 
from  the  United  States.'  " 

This  Society  commenced  under  very  favourable  auspices, 
and  their  first  expedition  sailed  from  Norfolk,  Va.,  October 
24th  of  the  same  year ;  the  very  day  of  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty-second  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  Penn,  with 
the  first  English  settlers,  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware.' 

4  This,'  said  Caroline,  *  was  a  very  happy  coincidence.' 

*  It  was,'  Mr.  L.  continued  ;  '  and  there  is  yet  another — 
the  good  ship  Ninus,  in  which   this  expedition  embarked, 
sailed  from  Philadelphia  to  receive  the  emigrants  at  Norfolk, 
the  14th  of  October,  which  was  on  William  Penn's  one  hun 
dred  and  ninetieth  birth  day.     All  this  was  apparently  en 
tirely  accidental,  and   was    regarded  not  only  as  somewhat 
remarkable,  but  as  a  favourable  omen. 

*  The  outfit  of  the  Ninus  cost  about  eight  thousand  dol 
lars,  and  the  number  of  emigrants  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty-six.    Every  adult  previous  to  the  sailing  of  the  ship, 
was  a  subscriber  to  the  temperance  pledge  of  entire  absti 
nence  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits.     They  all  arrived  safe 
at  Liberia  on  the  9th   December  following,  and  immediately 


244  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Great  success  and  encouragement. 

proceeded  to  Bassa  Cove,  their  contemplated  territory,  the 
purchase  of  which  from  the  natives,  had  been  consummated 
a  few  days  previous  to  their  arrival.  Such  was  the  zeal  and 
energy  of  these  colonists,  that  by  the  first  day  of  January 
next  succeeding,  a  plot  of  ground  had  been  cleared  and  a 
house  erected  for  the  agency  family,  and  within  six  months 
the  whole  colony  were  comfortably  located,  eighteen  houses 
having  been  erected  by  them  for  their  own  accommodation  ; 
"  the  lots  around  them  presenting  a  bright  prospect  of  luxu 
riant  crops  of  various  kinds,"  and  ten  additional  houses  to 
receive  the  emigrants  expected  by  a  second  expedition.  Be 
sides  these,  the  agent  had  caused  to  be  "prepared  a  large  and 
substantial  Government-house,  20  feet  by  50,  and  two  stories 
high,  with  a  well-stocked  garden  of  two  acres,  substantially 
enclosed,  and  had  cleared  upwards  of  forty  acres  of  land ; 
he  had  also  a  smith-shop,  with  a  pit  of  coal,  nearly  ready 
for  operation ;  a  kiln  of  lime  burned,  and  six  head  of  cattle 
procured  and  partially  broken  to  the  yoke,"  And  "  what 
rendered  this  picture  more  peculiarly  pleasing,  is  the  fact 
that  this  was  achieved  on  the  very  spot  where  a  slave  fac 
tory  had  long  stood,  and  from  whence  no  less  than  500  vic 
tims  had  been  shipped  during  the  one  month  preceding 
(the)  purchase  "  An  extensive  and  kindly  intercourse  was 
opened  with  the  surrounding  tribes  ;  and  promises  obtained 
even  from  the  more  distant,  of  the  extirpation  of  the  traffic 
in  human  flesh  and  blood.  The  location  "  was  admirably 
adapted,  just  beyond  the  territorial  limits  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  and  commanding,  at  the  same  time, 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  John's  River,  and  the  only  harbour 
occurring  for  many  miles  around,  to  repress  that  nefarious 
traffic  along  a  considerable  portion  of  coast." 

1  This  colony,  so  favourably  commenced,  was,  however, 
destined  to  meet  with  a  sudden  and  very  grievous  discour- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  245 

No  apprehension  for  the  future. 

agement  and  suspension.  A  slaver  arriving  in  the  vicinity, 
operated  upon  the  cupidity  of  one  of  the  chieftains  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  by  the  guilty  use  of  ardent  spirits,  urged 
him  to  an  attack  upon  the  unsuspecting  colony.  Three  men, 
four  women,  and  thirteen  children,  were  massacred  in  one 
night,  and  the  remainder  were  obliged  to  take  refuge  at 
Monrovia.' 

*  Might  not  this  dreadful  catastrophe  have  been  avoided, 
if  the  colony  had  been  prepared  with  fire-arms  and  other 
instruments  of  defence  ?' 

*  It  probably  might.     It  is  now  confidently  believed  by 
those  who  have  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  surround 
ing  tribes,  that  the  very  fact  of  the  colonists  being  possessed 
of  the   means  of  defence,  will  operate,  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  and  language  of  the  constitution  of  the  Society, 
as  "  a  dissuasion  from   warfare,"  and  induce  them  to  reject 
any  future  overtures  of  the  slavers.     It  is  not  to  be  expect 
ed  that  the  slavers  will  regard  any  attempt  to  plant  colonies 
on  the  coast,  with  other  feeling  than  hostility  ;  for  the  slave- 
trade  cannot  long  survive  amid  the  salutary  influences  of 
civilized  and  Christian  colonies  on  the  surrounding  pagan 
darkness.     The  chief,  however,  who  was  engaged  in  the 
attack  upon  the  colony,  has    expressed  contrition  for  his 
conduct,  and  given  solemn  assurances  of  a  desire  for  peace ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  colony,  which  is  now 
amply  furnished  with  the  means  of  defence,  but  instructed 
to  carry  out  the  original  design  of  the  enterprise  by  prose 
cuting  the  humane  and  benevolent  purposes  originally  con 
templated,  "  in  a  spirit  of  affectionate  regard  for  the  best  in 
terest  of  the  natives,"  using  "  every  effort  for  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  most  friendly  relations  with  them,"  will  not  be 
again  molested ;  or,  if  they  should  be,  it  is  believed  that  they 


246  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Prosperity  of  the  colony. 

have  nothing  to  fear.  The  slavers  must  retire  before  the 
light  of  civilization,  and  the  influence  of  agriculture  and 
commerce. 

*  Several  expeditions  for  this  colony  have  been  despatched 
since  that  which  we  have  noticed,  by  the  joint  benevolence 
of  the  New-York  Colonization  Society,  and  the  Pennsylva 
nia  Society ;  the  energies  of  both  institutions,  by  an  arrange 
ment  to  that  effect,  being  now  devoted  to  the  colony  at 
Bassa  Cove.  Among  the  emigrants  are  a  goodly  number  of 
superior  education  and  intelligence,  as  well  as  some  who  are 
possessed  of  considerable  property.  Clergymen  are  asso 
ciated  with  the  colony  as  missionaries  from  the  Episcopal, 
Methodist,  Baptist,  and  Presbyterian  churches,  and  great 
efforts  are  made  to  extend  among  the  natives  the  united 
blessings  of  literary  and  religious  instruction. 

'  The  principle  of  entire  abstinence  from  ardent  spirits,  I 
have  mentioned  was  adopted  by  the  Society  at  its  forma 
tion.  All  the  reinforcements  to  the  colony  have  "  sailed 
without  a  drop  of  ardent  spirits,"  and  the  "  colonists  pledged 
to  total  abstinence  have  not  in  any  instance  been  known  to 
violate"  the  pledge.  It  may  be  proper  also  to  remark  that 
the  influence  of  this  temperance  movement  has  been  happy 
upon  the  old  colony.  Hundreds  have  signed  the  pledge, 
and  so  temperate  is  the  colony  that  Captain  Abels,  on  a  re 
cent  visit,  ascertained  that  "  no  spirit  was  sold  at  any  house 
of  entertainment  at  Monrovia." 

'  The  colony  at  Bassa  Cove  appears,  at  the  present  time, 
to  be  prospering  beyond  all  parallel.' 

1 1  notice,'  said  Henry,  *  that  a  collegiate  institution  in 
Africa,  is  now  proposed,  and  about  to  be  established  by  the 
YOUNG  MEN'S  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY  OF  NEW- YORK.' 

*  Yes,'  said  Mr.  L,,  '  the  establishment  of  such  an  insti- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  247 

College  in  Liberia. 

tution  in  Liberia  has  long  been  a  favourite  idea  with  many 
prominent  friends  of  the  African  race.  Believing  that  know 
ledge  is  power ;  and  that  self-preservation  even,  whether  of 
the  individual  or  a  people,  is  not  secure  by  brute  force 
alone  ;  they  have  looked  forward  to  the  location  of  such  an 
institution  in  Western  Africa,  as  an  object  of  great  interest. 
As  intelligence  creates  resources,  opens  channels  of  wealth, 
extends  commerce,  improves  the  arts,  establishes  manufac 
tures,  gives  permanence  and  honour  to  a  community,  and 
when  founded  in  moral  principle,  raises  the  standard  of  hu 
man  character,  securing  domestic  virtue  and  national  pros 
perity  ;  so  it  also  throws  a  shield  of  protection  around  li 
berty,  life,  and  property.  The  coloured  race  cannot  be 
effectually  disenthralled  from  their  present  degradation,  ex 
cept  as  they  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a  good  education.  Great 
pains  have  been  taken  for  the  establishment  of  primary  or 
common  schools  in  the  colonies,  and  for  extending  the  be 
nefits  of  elementary  instruction  to  all  classes  of  the  chil 
dren.  A  college  is  now  needed  to.  give  efficiency  to  these 
institutions,  and  to  follow  up  to  its  full  blessing  the  good 
work  so  nobly  begun. 

'  A  philanthropic  and  judicious  writer  in  the  New-York 
Observer  has  these  very  sensible  remarks  in  respect  to  the 
location  of  such  an  institution  in  Liberia : — "  Great  changes 
are  in  progress.  It  requires  no  prophetic  vision  to  perceive 
that  the  destinies  of  the  African  race  are  opening  and  bright 
ening.  The  elevation  of  many  individuals  is  not  to  be  pre 
vented  by  slander  or  unkind  treatment.  There  are  among 
them  some  of  nature's  noblemen  in  intellectual  power,  no 
less  than  in  physical  structure.  Their  redemption  from  ig 
norance  and  abjectness  at  home,  and  the  melioration  of  their 
state  in  foreign  exile,  hasten  on  with  rapid  stride.  The  ge 
nius  of  the  age,  and  the  intimations  of  the  divine  will,  point  to 


248  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Such  an  institution  needed. 

such  results.  Selfish  interests  and  personal  prejudices  die 
with  men,  while  time  rolls  on  its  tide  without  our  aid  or 
consent.  Some  of  these  changes  will  be  accelerated,  not 
retarded,  by  the  rod  of  oppression.  New-England  was  fill 
ed  with  emigrants  by  ecclesiastical  tyranny.  Men  of  culti 
vated  intellect  and  various  talent  will  be  wanted  among  the 
people  of  colour,  as  soon  as  they  can  be  educated.  They 
are  to  occupy  responsible  stations,  and  to  do  a  momentous 
wrork.  They  are  to  prosecute  researches  into  the  geography 
and  commercial  resources  of  Africa,  to  establish  a  republic 
on  its  western  coast,  and  to  publish  the  gospel  of  the  Sa 
viour  to  its  superstitious  tribes.  It  is  contrary  to  all  analogy 
to  suppose  otherwise.  White  men  may  make  establish 
ments,  commercial  and  religious,  on  the  capes  and  islands  of 
that  continent,  but  it  is  for  men  of  colour  to  pass  up  its  rivers, 
to  cultivate  its  vallies,  and  introduce  the  arts  and  institutions 
of  a  Christian  land  through  its  wide  extent  of  surface.  It  is 
for  men  of  colour  to  found  schools  and  churches,  pursue  its 
agriculture  and  commerce,  and  conduct  the  whole  machinery, 
on  which  depends  the  wealth,  prosperity,  and  elevated  cha 
racter  of  this  infant  republic. 

"  There  is  a  strong  sympathy  with  the  African  race.  It 
can  hardly  be  restrained  by  sober  judgment  and  a  regard  to 
the  principles  of  common  justice.  It  seeks  to  find  out  chan 
nels  in  which  its  exuberant  compassion  may  flow  forth. 
That  race,  in  the  mystery  of  Providence,  has  been  subjected 
to  much  suffering.  To  say  that  many  have  endured  a  long 
bondage,  a  period  of  exile  from  the  land  of  their  fathers,  like 
the  slavery  of  Jacob's  family  in  Egypt,  or  the  captivity  of 
Judah  in  Assyria,  is  only  a  declaration  of  historical  facts. 
And  this  injury  has  been  inflicted  by  the  most  intelligent  and 
Christian  nations  on  the  globe.  That  a  rich  return  is  to  be 
made  to  their  descendants  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  in  the 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  249 

College  in  Liberia  necessary. 

inestimable  blessings  of  the  Christian  religion,  cannot  well 
admit  a  doubt.  *  *  *  If  we  stop  with  the  rudiments  of 
knowledge,  we  only  begin  the  work.  The  paths  of  science 
are  not  trod,  the  powers  of  the  intellect  are  not  developed, 
the  dignity  of  our  nature  is  not  fully  displayed.  No  histo 
rian  records  a  nation's  annals,  and  no  poet  writes  its  songs  ; 
no  astronomer  marks  the  phenomena  of  the  heavens,  and  no 
geologist  digs  into  the  treasures  of  the  earth.  Without  a 
college,  there  are  no  profound  scholars,  no  elegant  writers, 
no  large  libraries,  no  inquiries  into  the  antiquities  of  past 
ages,  or  into  the  aspects  of  future  times.  Soon  will  the 
common  school  lower  its  standard,  if  there  is  no  higher  in 
stitution.  Soon  will  the  general  intelligence  of  a  people  de 
cline,  if  there  are  no  learned  men,  with  whom  they  are  conver 
sant  and  to  whom  they  may  look  as  examples.  Soon  will 
the  authority  of  the  Bible  be  veiled  in  doubts,  if  there  are 
none  who  are  competent  to  read  its  ancient  languages,  de 
monstrate  its  divine  origin,  and  answer  the  cavils  of  infidels. 
There  is  no  security  against  a  retrograde  movement  in  any 
human  society  but  in  a  constant  effort  to  advance. 

"  Who  are  to  navigate  their  ships?  Who  are  to  teach 
their  children  ?  Who  are  to  be  the  pastors  of  their  church 
es  ?  Who  are  to  be  their  legislators,  governors,  judges  ? 
Who  are  to  lay  the  sure  foundations  of  an  intelligent,  vir 
tuous,  and  happy  republic  ?  Who  are  to  extend  a  civilizing 
influence  over  hundreds  of  petty  tribes  along  a  coast  of  three 
thousand  miles  and  into  regions  of  the  interior,  as  yet  un- 
traversed  by  Europeans?  It  sickens  the  heart  to  hear  it 
suggested  that  the  ignorant  and  vicious  are  to  be  entrusted 
with  these  stupendous  interests,  which  involve  the  dearest 
hopes  of  many  generations,  and  on  which  depends  the  suc 
cessful  prosecution  of  one  of  the  noblest  enterprises  which 
has  ever  blest  humanity  in  this  or  any  other  age.  It  sickens 


250  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Without  knowledge,  a  colony  will  degenerate. 

the  heart  to  think  that  its  government  may  degenerate  into 
anarchy,  and  its  religion  into  fanaticism, — that  its  energies 
may  be  exhausted  in  selfish  and  mercenary  speculations, 
until  the  slave-trade  shall  be  renewed  where  it  is  now  ex 
tinct,  and  the  arts  of  war  supplant  the  peaceful  pursuits  of 
agriculture  and  the  manufactures.  It  sickens  the  heart  to 
think  that  many  lives  may  have  been  sacrificed  and  much 
treasure  expended  to  little  purpose,  that  tears  have  been  shed 
and  prayers  offered  in  vain.  The  failure  of  Liberia,  as  the 
germ  of  a  free  and  prosperous  republic,  is  not  to  be  contem 
plated  as  possible.  But  there  are  various  means  to  be  employ 
ed  to  render  the  enterprise  more  sure.  Among  others,  a  libe 
ral  system  of  education  is  one,  which  requires  a  college  as 
an  indispensable  appendage." 

'  Amongst  the  reasons  which  this  writer  assigns  for  the  lo 
cation  of  such  an  institution  in  Liberia,  are  these: — "  It  will 
be  in  the  land  of  the  African  race.  That  land  is  a  continent 
wide  in  territory,  rich  in  resources,  and  open  to  the  entrance 
of  her  own  children.  If  three  or  four  millions  of  that  race 
are  dispersed  in  foreign  lands,  twenty  or  thirty  millions  are 
to  be  found  on  their  native  soil.  Some  thousands  of  free 
men,  who  are  advancing  to  wealth  and  high  distinction,  have 
made  it  their  home.  The  native  population  is  easily  acces 
sible.  It  places  the  pupils  beyond  the  reach  of  that  oppres 
sive  power  which  they  feel  in  this  country,  and  they  are  left 
to  the  influence  of  all  the  high  and  inspiring  motives  of  am 
bition,  honour,  and  usefulness.  In  these  States,  in  the  vici 
nity  of  their  enslaved  brethren,  they  are  dispirited.  They 
do  not  find  themselves  stimulated  by  the  prospect  of  emolu 
ment,  or  office,  or  equal  rank.  Why  should  they  study? 
"Why  aspire  to  learn?  What  is  the  reward  of  diligence? 
Besides  they  do  not  often  enjoy  the  facilities  of  instruction 
and  books,  which  fall  to  the  lot  of  other  children,  especially 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  251 

A  College  in  Liberia  promises  rich  blessings. 

in  early  years.  It  is  not  chiefly  any  want  of  industry  or 
native  talent,  which  leaves  them  behind  others  of  their  age. 
This  disparity  can  be  satisfactorily  traced  to  causes  which 
cannot  be  removed  till  they  are  taken  out  of  this  state  of  so 
ciety  and  allowed  to  inhale  a  free  atmosphere.  See  the  Af 
rican  youth  on  his  native  soil,  erect,  gay,  and  buoyant;  here 
he  is  depressed  and  downcast.'  There  are  some  schools  for 
children  of  colour  in  this  country,  and  many  individuals  of 
both  sexes  have  made  commendable  improvement.  They 
have  evinced  sufficient  capacity.  But  as  a  diffident  child 
cannot  look  up  in  the  presence  of  strangers,  so  they  are  op 
pressed  with  an  incumbent  load  which  no  impulse  of  genius 
can  enable  them  to  shake  off.  A  fair  experiment  in  their 
education  cannot  be  made  in  this  country.  The  constitution 
of  society  forbids  it.  In  their  own  land  no  distinction  of 
colour  will  remind  them  of  their  exile,  no  frown  of  a  master 
will  check  the  rising  emotion  of  joy,  no  exclusion  from  pub 
lic  office,  and  no  inferiority  of  rank  will  chill  the  energy  of 
the  soul.  Fame,  and  wealth,  and  official  honour  will  invite 
them  to  aspire  to  excellence,  and  reward  their  patient  indus 
try.  Why  should  they  not  become  learned  in  abstract  and 
useful  science?  Why  should  they  not  cultivate  the  fine  arts, 
painting  and  sculpture,  music  and  poetry  ?  Some  of  the  co 
lonists  grow  rich  with  great  rapidity ;  why  should  they  not 
accumulate  funds  of  knowledge?  Give  them  the  opportu 
nity  and  the  inspiring  motive,  and  there  is  no  uncertainty  re 
specting  the  result.  If  a  literary  establishment  should  be 
made  in  the  colony  of  Liberia,  there  is  no  apparent  reason 
why  it  should  not  be  perpetuated  through  the  successive  pe 
riods  of  its  future  history  with  enlarged  resources  and  in 
creasing  usefulness.  Pupils  need  not  be  wanting.  The  in 
telligent  sons  of  native  chiefs,  the  sons  of  colonists,  young 
men  of  enterprise  and  talent  in  the  West  India  Islands  and 


252  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  College  will  be  sustained. 

the  United  States,  may  here  find  an  asylum  where  they  may 
prosecute  their  education  without  prejudice.  This  will  sti 
mulate  the  ambition  of  the  native  tribes,  reward  the  fidelity 
of  colonists  who  have  borne  the  burden  of  the  work,  and 
elicit  the  talent  of  the  race  wherever  it  may  be  found.  Es 
pecially  may  such  a  seminary  prove  to  be  a  "  school  of  the 
prophets,"  where  the  Saviour*  of  the  world  may  prepare  his 
servants  to  publish  his  gospel  of  mercy  to  the  millions  on 
that  continent.  Besides,  that  continent  is  to  be  their  future 
theatre  of  action.  And  it  is  an  ample  field.  It  is  not  a  little 
island  environed  by  the  sea.  It  is  not  a  section  of  country 
where  they  will  be  exposed  to  encroachments  from  men  of  a 
different  colour  and  superior  power.  It  is  not  in  subjection 
to  a  despotic  government  with  which  they  can  feel  no  sym 
pathy,  and  in  the  administration  of  which  they  can  aspire  to 
no  share.  Nor  is  its  language,  like  that  of  Hayti,  intelligi 
ble  to  a  handful  only  of  all  the  race.  Nor  is  its  religion 
mystical  and  established  by  law,  denying  to  individuals  en 
tire  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  worship  of  God.  What 
ever  islands  or  sections  of  country  may  in  the  course  of  time 
fall  into  the  possession  of  the  people  of  colour,  the  conti 
nent  of  Africa  itself  is  the  cradle  and  the  home  of  the  race. 
The  results  of  their  enterprise  and  talent  are  to  be  exhibited 
there.  In  despite  of  all  that  philanthropy  can  accomplish, 
neither  the  United  States  nor  the  British  Islands  will  furnish 
an  inviting  field  to  men  of  colour  for  half  a  century  to  come. 
As  they  advance  to  wealth  and  knowledge,  they  will  resort 
to  the  father-land,  whether  for  culture  or  commerce.  They 
will  seek  it  as  an  asylum,  a  home.  There  will  be  no  need 
of  external  compulsion  or  constraint.  Nor  will  they  wait 
for  pecuniary  aid.  It  will  not  be  easy  to  retain  them  to  hew 
wood  and  draw  water  in  other  lands.  They  will  there  be 
the  proprietors  of  the  soil  which  they  cultivate,  establish  a 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  253 

Bassa  Cove  a  delightful  country. 

government  which  they  themselves  administer,  and  introduce 
the  religion  of  their  enlightened  choice.  And  shall  the  want 
of  a  few  thousand  dollars  prevent  the  immediate  commence* 
ment  of  a  work  so  imperiously  demanded  by  the  wants  of  a 
whole  race  ?  Will  not  the  statesman,  the  philanthropist,  the 
rich  merchant,  give  to  this  enterprise  a  candid  investigation 
and  a  liberal  patronage  ?  And  especially  may  it  not  be  com 
mended  with  confidence  to  Him  who  controls  the  destinies  of 
nations,  and  who  is  pleased  with  the  good  conduct  and  high 
est  happiness  of  men  ?" 

•  Such  an  institution,'  said  Caroline,  « would  reflect  great 
honour  upon  its  founders,  and  I  am  sure  would  greatly  en 
courage  the  hope  of  Africa's  final  triumphs.  I  have  recently 
seen  very  encouraging  accounts  from  this  colony.' 

'  Yes  ;  Mr.  Buchanan,  the  governor  of  the  colony,  writes 
to  the  corresponding  secretary,  Mr.  Cresson,  "You  may 
congratulate  yourself  on  your  steadfast  affection  for  Bassa 
Cove,  for  indeed  it  is  a  paradise.  The  climate  is  absolutely 
good — the  soil  prolific  and  various  in  its  productions — the 
rivers  abound  in  excellent  fish  and  very  superior  oysters, 
and  the  water  is  pure  and  wholesome.  Our  position  is 
somewhat  remarkable,  having  a  river  in  our  rear,  the  ocean 
in  front,  and  the  magnificent  St.  John's  sweeping  past  on  our 
right.  The  luxuriant  and  various  foliage  which  overhangs 
the  banks  of  the  river,  and  recedes  back  into  the  interminable 
forests,  gives  a  perpetual  freshness  to  the  scene  which  ever 
animates  and  gladdens  the  beholder.  In  America  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  conceive  of  African  scenery  without  picturing  to  our 
imagination  a  plentiful  supply  of  burning  sand,  with  here 
and  there  a  fiery  serpent ;  but  what  a  pleasing  reversion  the 
feelings  undergo  when  for  the  first  time  we  witness  the 


254  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

The  colonists  contented  and  prosperous. 

reality ;  then  the  arid  scene,  with  its  odious  accompaniments, 
is  exchanged  for  the  broad  river  of  blue  waters,  the  stately 
forest,  and  the  ever  verdant  landscape,  and  all  nature  charm* 
with  her  ever-varying,  yet  ever-beautiful  and  living  riches. 

"  We  have  very  little  sickness  among  us.  When  our 
land  is  cleared  up  and  cultivated,  I  have  no  doubt  that  people 
may  come  here  from  any  part  of  the  Union  and  suffer  little 
or  nothing  in  the  process  of  acclimating. 

"  The  site  chosen  by  Dr.  Skinner,  and  upon  which  the 
town  is  now  laid  out,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  pic 
turesque  that  could  be  found  in  any  country.  A  command 
ing  and  remarkable  eminence  at  the  north  end  of  the  town  I 
cut  off  and  appropriated  for  the  agency  house  and  offices. 
This  eminence  is  washed  on  three  sides  by  the  ocean  and 
two  rivers,  and  commands  an  unlimited  prospect  seaward, 
overlooking  completely  all  parts  of  Bassa  Cove,  Edina,  and 
and  an  extensive  tract  of  the  St.  John's  and  Benson  rivers, 
and  may,  with  a  very  little  labour,  be  rendered  impregnable 
against  any  native  force.  I  am  at  present  mounting  a  long 
nine-pounder  on  a  pivot,  on  one  corner  of  the  hill,  which 
will  range  our  principal  street,  the  harbour  and  river. 

"  Our  settlement  has  grown  very  rapidly,  and  quite  asto 
nishes  every  visitor  by  its  appearance  of  age,  and  the  indus 
try  of  its  inhabitants.  No  description  that  I  could  give 
would  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the  change  in  their  de 
portment,  and  i4,  would  savour  too  much,  perhaps,  of  self- 
praise,  to  dwell  on  this  subject;  suffice  it  to  say,  that  gene 
ral  industry,  contentment,  and  good  order  prevail.  Every 
man  is  now  in  his  own  house,  with  a  lot  cleared,  well  fenced, 
and  planted.  Many  have  small  rice  plantations,  besides  their 
village  lots,  and  by  the  blessing  of  Providence,  they  will  be 
nearly  all  independent  of  foreign  produce  another  year. 

41  The  people  are  unanimous  in  their  expressions  of  grati- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  255 

The  colony  must  succeed. 

tude  to  the  societies  for  their  continued  patronage,  and  ap 
pear  to  be  well  satisfied  with  the  laws  and  their  administra 
tion.  All  have  sworn  to  support  the  constitution,  after  having 
it  read  at  three  different  times,  and  carefully  explained. 

"  With  proper  care  at  home,  and  judicious  management 
here,  the  experiment  must  succeed.  YOUR  LOCATION  is 

GOOD PERHAPS    THE     VERY  BEST    ON    THE    WHOLE    WESTERN 

COAST  OF  AFRICA.  A  magnificent  interior  country  can  be 
added  to  your  territory,  as  occasion  may  require,  while  the 
whole  line  of  sea  coast  down  to  Cape  Palmas,  can  ultimate 
ly  be  occupied  by  your  villages  and  cities.  A  climate  of 
great  comparative  salubrity,  and  a  soil  rich  in  the  various 
productions  of  the  tropics,  are  among  the  advantages  you 
calculate  upon  with  ever-increasing  certainty.  Industrious 
men  alone  are  wanting  to  render  your  labours  triumphant  in 
converting  this  African  wilderness  into  a  paradise  of  loveli 
ness  ;  and  creating  here  a  home  of  peace  and  serenity,  where 
thousands  may  come  and  rest  from  all  their  wrongs." 

'It  is  a  very  pleasing  circumstance  that  young  men  are 
"  coming  to  the  rescue,"  and  associating  together,  as  in  our 
two  great  cities,  to  help  carry  forward  this  great  and  blessed 
enterprise.  Until  the  Young  Men's  Society  of  Pennsylvania 
was  formed,  the  pecuniary  concerns  of  the  Parent  Society 
had  begun  to  assume  a  very  discouraging  aspect.  But  the 
formation  of  this  Society  revived  the  hopes  of  the  friends  of 
Africa;  and  subsequent  success  has  banished  many  doubts 
in  regard  to  the  final  and  complete  success  of  the  enter 
prise. 

*  We  have  now  reason  to  hope  that  the  time  is  very  near 
when  many  colonies  shall  be  planted  on  the  shores  of  Africa. 
Maryland  has  already  moved  in  this  good  work.  Missis 
sippi  has  resolved  that  she  also  will  open  a  door  for  herself. 
Virginia,  it  is  confidently  expected,  will  not  be  backward  in 


256  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Colonies  should  line  the  coast. 

the  work.  And,  what  is  there  to  hinder  all  the  States  from 
coming  up  to  this  work,  and  planting  a  chain  of  ten,  or 
twenty  or  more  States  in  Africa,  which  shall  form  a  republic 
in  close  affinity  with  our  own,  extending  far  and  wide  the 
blessings  of  peace,  liberty,  light,  and  joy? 

"  Light  of  the  world,  arise !  arise  ! 

On  Africa  thy  glory  shed  ; 
Fetter'd,  in  darkness  deep  she  lies, 

With  weeping  eye,  and  drooping  head, 

Light  of  the  world,  arise  !  arise ! 

Millions  in  tears  await  the  day; 
Shine  cloudless  forth,  O  cheer  our  eyes,, 

A,nd  banish  sin  and  grief  away."  * 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  257 

Right  ol  search. 


CONVERSATION    XXVI. 


"Lo!  once  in  triumph  on  his  boundless  plain, 

The  quiver'd  chief  of  Congo  lov'd  to  reign; 

With  fires  proportion'd  to  his  native  sky, 

Strength  in  his  arm,  and  lightning  in  his  eye! 

Scour'd  with  wild  feet  hissuri-illumin'd  zone^ 

The  spear,  the  lion,  and  the  woods  his  own  ! 

Or  led  the  combat,  bold  without  a  plan, 

An  artless  savage,  but  a  fearless  man  T 

The  plunderer  came : — Alas,  noglory  smiles 

For  Congo's  chief  on  yonder  Indian  isles, 

Forever  fallen  !  rioson  of  nature  now, 

With  freedom  charter'd  on  his  brow  : 

Faint,  bleeding,  bound,  he  weeps  the  night  away, 

And,  when  the  sea-wind  wafis  the  dewless  day, 

Starts,  wiih  a  bursting  heart,  for  ever  more 

To  curse  the  sun  that  lights  the  guilty  shore." — CampbeU, 


•THERE  is  one  subject,'  said  Mr.  L.,  '  that  I  meant  to  have 
noticed  before,  and  that  is  the  importance  of  some  better  un 
derstanding  between  our  own  government  and  others,  in  re 
spect  to  the  right  of  search.  By  treaties  between  some  of 
the  powers,  the  mutual  right  of  search  is  conceded  to  the 
government  vessels  of  each  nation,  of  such  merchant  ves 
sels  of  the  other  as  may  be  reasonably  suspected  of  being- 
engaged  in  the  slave-trade,  or  which  have  been  fitted  out 
with  that  intent,  or  that,  during  the  voyage  in  which  they 
are  met  with  by  said  cruisers,  have  been  employed  in  the 
x  2 


258  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Convention  of  foreign  powers. 

slave-trade ;  and  the  said  cruisers  are  authorized  to  detain 
them,  and  send  or  conduct  them  to  one  of  the  places  appoint 
ed  by  the  convention  of  treaty  for  trial ;  this  mutual  right  of 
search  not  to  be  exercised  in  any  part  of  the  Mediterranean 
sea,  nor  in  the  seas  of  Europe  which  lie  north  of  latitude 
37,  and  east  of  longitude  20  W.  from  Greenwich.  To  pre 
vent  difficulties  and  injuries  which  might  otherwise  arise,  it 
has  been  provided,  that  when  vessels  of  either  nation  shall 
be  arbitrarily  and  illegally  detained  by  the  cruisers  of  the 
other,  the  government  whose  cruisers  have  caused  the  deten 
tion,  shall  indemnify  the  owners,  &c.  of  the  vessels  for  all 
damage  resulting  therefrom,  which  is  to  be  determined  agree 
ably  to  provisions  made  for  that  purpose.  Such  a  treaty  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  other  friendly  powers,  would 
greatly  facilitate  the  absolute  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  I 
say  absolute  abolition  of  it,  for  it  is  a  painful  and  notorious 
fact,  that  notwithstanding  all  the  precautions  that  are  now 
used,  vessels  are  fitted  out  from  some  of  our  own  ports  by 
unprincipled  men,  whose  vile  purpose  is  obvious,  but  who 
escape  with  impunity,  because  the  proper  officers  cannot  ar 
rest  vessels  without  proof  of  their  having  violated  the  law, 
by  the  commission  of  overt  acts.  A  law  giving  to  our  local 
authorities  and  naval  officers,  powers  over  American  vessels^ 
touching  this  matter,  similar  to  those  which  Great  Britain 
exercises  over  her  commerce;  and  especially,  if  practicable, 
an  understanding  with  foreign  powers  which  shall  concede  a 
limited  and  mutual  power  similar  to  that  to  which  I  have  al- 
already  adverted  ;  and  the  presence  of  a  few  American  cruisers 
on  the  African  coast,  to  co-operate  with  those  of  other  nations 
authorized  to  destroy  the  slave-factories  and  barracoons  wher 
ever  they  may  be  found  on  the  coast,  would  greatly  hasten 
the  final  and  total  extinction  of  the  trade.' 

v  But  I  am  surprised,  Pa,'  said   Caroline,   « to  hear  that 


CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 


The  extinction  of  the  slave-trade. 


there  are  any  yet  remaining  in  our  own  country  who  would 
clandestinely  engage  in  the  African  slave-trade,  and  that  it  is 
possible  for  vessels  to  sail  from  our  shores  to  be  so  em 
ployed.' 

'It  is  lamentably  true,  as  it  is  surprising.  By  recent  in 
formation  from  Africa,  it  appears  that  American  built  vessels 
are  regularly  engaged  in  this  accursed  trade.  The  way  of 
procuring  them  is  said  to  be  as  follows: — -"Mercantile 
houses  in  the  Havana,  and  other  ports  in  Cuba  and  Porto 
Rico,  send  orders  for  fast  sailing  vessels  to  their  correspond 
ents  here,  of  course  saying  nothing  about  their  being  design 
ed  for  slavers.  When  launched,  they  are  frequently  equip 
ped  at  Baltimore  and  New-York.  Even  the  shackles  for 
securing  the  slaves,  and  the  gratings  to  cover  the  hatches, 
not  unfrequently  go  from  this  country  ;  though  a  part  of  the 
latter  are  sometimes  prepared  on  board.  The  shackles  are 
put  up  in  barrels,  and  shipped  as  merchandise.  The  crews 
are  principally  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  French  and  Dutch 
Creoles,  and  a  sort  of  Lingua  Franca-men,  of  no  nation, 
or  rather  of  all  nations,  belonging  nowhere,  or  everywhere, 
and  speaking  all  the  Atlantic  languages.  Some  of  them 
picked  up  in  New-York  or  Baltimore  for  the  voyage,  and 
others  after  she  arrives  in  the  Havana.  These  are  all  des 
peradoes.  Some  of  the  crew,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  are  said 
to  be,  in  some  instances,  Americans,  who  sometimes  do  not 
know  the  nature  of  the  voyage  until  they  arrive  on  the  coast 
of  Africa.  The  slaver  sails  from  our  port  as  an  American 
vessel  under  the  American  flag,  with  American  papers,  and 
appears  like  a  regular  trader.  She  goes  to  the  Havana,  is 
denationalized,  receives  a  new  name,  and  takes  Spanish  co 
lours  and  Spanish  papers.  Sometimes,  but  rarely,  this  is 
done  at  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands.  These  vessels  frequently 


260  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Recent  facts  ascertained. 

put  into  Sierra  Leone,  and  occasionally  into  Monrovia;  and, 
as  all  appears  fair  and  smooth,  and  strictly  en  regie,  it  is  im 
possible  to  prove  that  they  are  slavers." 

*  Where,  Sir,  are  the  slaves  which  they  obtain  carried  ?' 

4 Some  have  been  carried  to  Brazil;  some  to  the  Spanish 
Islands,  from  whence  they  have  been  smuggled  in  considera 
ble  numbers  into  Guadaloupe  and  Martinique,  and  it  is  even 
said  that  some  have  found  their  way  into  Florida,  and  va 
rious  places  on  the  Gulf.  In  this  morning's  paper  I  notice 
an  article  extracted  from  a  late  Lisbon  paper,  which  is  as  fol 
lows  : — "A  slave-trader  has  lately  arrived  in  the  Tagus, 
consigned  to  Mr.  S.,  a  German.  She  returns  after  having 
sold  her  slaves  at  Rio  Janeiro  and  the  Havana,  with  a  nett 
profit  of  95,000  crowns,  or  10,000/.  after  deducting  every 
outlay,  and  she  will  soon  start  again  on  another  expedition 
of  this  kind.  There  are  three  French  residents  here  con 
nected  with  Mr.  S.  in  the  nefarious  and  infamous  expedition, 
and  unless  our  government  adopt  some  other  course,  the 
traffic  from  hence  will  increase/' 

4  Are  those  places  from  whence  slaves  are  now  obtained 
remote  from  the  colonies  of  Liberia  and  Sierra  Leone  ?' 

4  Yes;  the  same  gentlemen  who,  on  their  return  from  Af 
rica,  recently  communicated  the  facts  to  which  I  have 
now  referred,  say  that  there  are  no  slave-factories,  from 
Cape  Palmas  eastward,  for  several  degrees  of  longitude. 
But  to  show  you  the  extent  of  the  trade  on  different 
parts  of  the  coast,  probably  at  this  moment,  I  will  mention 
the  establishments  which  through  the  colony  at  Liberia  have 
been  ascertained  to  exist  beyond  the  reach  of  any  colony's 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  261 

Slave-trade  not  practicable  where  colonies  are  planted. 

present  influence.  This  information  you  will  find  commu 
nicated  in  the  Colonization  Herald,  for  December  19,  1835. 
I  give  it  as  it  was  communicated: — "At  Bissao,  a  Portu 
guese  settlement  near  Gambia,  it  is  carried  on  extensively, 
but  not  with  the  open  countenance  of  the  local  government. 
The  Eiver  Pongas,  in  9  deg.  50  min.  N.,  and  13  deg.  40 
min.  W.,  and  120  miles  north  of  Sierra  Leone,  is  an  exten 
sive  slave-market.  The  river  is  navigable  for  large  vessels 
60  or  80  miles,  and  has  several  slave-factories  on  its  banks. 
About  2000  slaves  are  carried  away  annually.  Three  of  the 
gentlemen  who  communicated  these  facts,  saw  seven  slavers 
in  the  river  at  a  time.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Shelear  river, 
a  little  south  of  Sherbro  Island,  in  7  deg.  15  min.  N.,  and 
12  deg.  W.,  a  considerable  number  are  sold  annually.  The 
mouth  of  the  Gallinas  in  7  deg.  5.  min.  N.,  and  11  deg. 
40  min.  W.,  is  the  great  slave-mart  north  of  Cape  Palmas. 
At  this  place  are  two  very  large  factories,  with  their  ap 
propriate  suite  of  barracoons,  or  out-buildings  to  house 
the  slaves,  as  they  are  sent  in  by  the  neighbouring 
chiefs.  These  factories  are  about  120  feet  in  length,  are 
handsomely  fitted  up,  and  elegantly  furnished.  They  are 
occupied  by  two  Spaniards,  whose  names  we  know,  one 
of  whom  is  very  rich.  They  are  said  to  have  their 
regular  agents  in  (two  cities  in  these  States  !)  No  less 
than  eight  thousand  slaves  are  annually  shipped  from  this 
one  place.  Slavers  are  almost  always  lying  there.  They 
saw  four  slavers  at  the  Gallinas  in  October  last.  One  of 
them  was  to  sail  on  the  14th  or  loth,  with  450  slaves  on 
board.  Two  of  our  informants  saw  them  dancing  in  two 
circles  on  the  beach.  At  Sugry  River  and  Cape  Mount* 
about  80  miles  north  of  Monrovia,  a  considerable  number  are 
sold  every  year.  They  saw  two  slavers  lying  there  in  Oc 
tober.  Cape  Mesurado  was  formerly  an  extensive  slave- 


262  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Grt-at  extent  of  coast  exposed. 

market  before  the  settlement  of  Monrovia.  It  is  now  wholly- 
broken  up.  The  same  is  true,  in  a  degree,  of  the  mouth 
of  Junk  River.  One  of  the  gentlemen  has  seen  the  re 
mains  of  the  old  slave-factory,  which  stood  near  the  mouth 
of  St.  John's  River,  before  Edina  and  Bassa  Cove  were 
planted.  In  1884,  before  the  purchase  of  Bassa  Cove,  500 
were  shipped  from  that  place,  in  a  single  month.  Since 
then,  the  slavers  have  left  the  river.  Sesfras  River,  in  5 
deg.  30  min.  N.  is,  as  they  suppose,  the  only  remaining  re 
gular  slave-market  between  Cape  Palmas  and  Monrovia, 
and,  in  the  numbers  which  it  furnishes  annually,  is  proba 
bly  inferior  only  to  the  Gallinas.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
slavers  lie  at  anchor  for  a  few  days,  in  numerous  other  places 
along  the  coast,  where  no  factories  have  been  erected,  to  pick 
up  the  slaves  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  who  have 
been  "just  taken  in  war.  The  captains  of  the  slavers  are 
generally  men  of  polished  manners,  and  gentlemanly  ap 
pearance.  One  of  them  was,  some  time  ago,  particularly 
kind  to  the  captain  of  the  vessel  in  which  one  of  our  infor 
mants  sailed  ;  sending  him  a  case  of  claret,  and  utterly  re 
fusing  all  compensation.  The  slavers  are  all  sharp  built 
vessels,  intended  expressly  for  fast  sailers.  They  mount 
commonly  one  gun,  sometimes  as  many  as  eighteen.  The 
one  gun  is  a  long  32  pounder;  and,  where  there  are  more, 
some  are  always  of  this  description.  *  *  *  At  least 
100  slavers  are  to  be  found  annually  between  the  river  Pon- 
gas  and  the  Bight  of  Benin,  including  both. 

"  The  following  places  in  the  Bight  of  Benin  are  exten 
sive  slave-markets,  with  regular  factories  : — Badagry  Point, 
in  6  deg.  3  min.  N.  and  2  deg.  50  min.  E.  ;  Lagos  River, 
in  6  deg.  30  min.  N.  and  3  deg.  20  min.  E.  ;  Benin  River, 
in  5  deg.  50  min.  N.  and  5  deg.  10  min.  E.  ;  the  River 
jVwn,  in  4  deg.  20, min.  N.  and  6  deg.  10  min.  E.,  and 
more  especially  on  Brass  River,  one  of  its  bayous. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY :  263 

Our  national  armed  vessels  should  visit  the  coast. 

"  The  following  are  similar  establishments  on  the  Bight 
of  Biafra ; — Old  Caltbar  River,  in  4  deg.  40  min.  N.  and 

8  deg.  30  min»  E. ;  the   Camaroons^  in  4  deg.  N.  and  9 
deg.  30  min.  E. ;  the  River  Gaboon,  in  30  min.  N.   and 

9  deg.  20  rnin.  E.  ;  and   Cape  Lopez,  in  1  deg.  40  min.  S. 
The  slavers  in  the   Bight  of  Biafra   are   at  present  exceed 
ingly  numerous,  and  are  spoken  of  as  amounting  to  hun 
dreds."  ' 

'  I  have  seen  it  objected?  said  Henry,  '  to  the  colony  of 
Liberia,  that  it  has  not  suppressed  the  slave-trade  :  but  both 
that  and  the  colony  at  Sierra  Leone,  have  certainly  done 
something,  if  they  have  not  yet  accomplished  every 
thing.' 

*  It  is  unreasonable  in  the  extreme,'  said  Mr.  L.,  *  for  any 
thus  to  object.  To  break  up  the  slave-trade  on  that  whole 
extended  coast  will  require  time,  and  the  planting  of  other 
colonies,  and  the  aid  of  Christian  governments.  It  is  cer 
tainly  a  matter  of  great  gratulation  that  so  much  has  been 
done.1 

'  Are  not  our  national  vessels  occasionally  cruising  upon 
the  African  coast  ?  I  am  sure,  I  think  I  have  seen  frequent 
accounts  of  them  there,'  said  Henry. 

4  They  have  occasionally  visited  the  colonies  :  not  often 
— very  seldom — and  scarcely  at  all  of  late.  We  have  not 
rendered  that  aid  and  protection  which  we  ought  to  have 
done.  Especially  does  that  coast  demand  our  regard  in  con 
sideration  of  the  fact  that  the  regular  legal  trade  with  Africa 
is  carried  on  chiefly  by  American  vessels.  These  are  left 
almost  entirely  to  be  protected  by  the  English  flag.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  our  Government  will  soon  take  this  subject 


264  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Action  of  Congress  desirable. 

in  hand,  and  that  there  will  be  some  efficient  action  by  Con 
gress  in  unison  with  other  powers,  for  the  suppression  of 
the  trade.  Then,  not  only  will  the  native  African 

"drink  at  noon 

The  palm's  rich  nectar,  and  lie  down  at  eve 
In  the  green  pastures  of  remembered  days, 
And  walk,  to  wander  and  to  weep  no  more, 
On  Congo's  mountain-coast,  and  Gambia's  golden  shore  ;" 

but  the  prosperity  of  the  colonies  planted  there  will  be 
greatly  promoted,  and  rendered  far  more  efficient  than  they 
can  otherwise  be.  Besides,  the  reproach  will  be  taken  away 
from  us  which  I  had  the  mortification  of  reading  this  morn 
ing  from  a  paragraph  in  one  of  the  papers  professedly  de 
voted  to  the  cause  of  the  coloured  race,  in  these  words  :— 
"  True,  America  has  proscribed  the  foreign  trade,  on  parch 
ment  ;  and  that  is  all.  For  to  this  hour,  she  stands  aloof, 
and  will  not  come  into  such  arrangements  with  foreign  pow 
ers,  as  are  indispensable  to  an  effectual  execution  of  the 
law.  A  British  cruiser  gives  chase  to  a  slaver — up  go  Ame 
rican  colours  !  America  denies  the  right  of  search  in  the 
case,  and  off  goes  the  slaver  untouched  and  unharmed. — 
Thus  does  America  nullify  her  own  law,  and,  so  far  as  she 
can,  the  laws  of  all  other  civilized  powers,  and  unfurl  her 
flag  for  the  escape  and  protection,  rather  than  the  arrest  and 
punishment  of  the  slaver !"  ' 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  265 

Colonization  is  practicable. 


CONVERSATION  XXVIL 


"  As  in  ancient  Rome,  it  was  regarded  as  the  mark  of  a  good  citizen, 
never  to  despair  of  the  fortunes  of  Ihe  republic ;  so  the  good  citizen  of  the 
world,  whatever  may  be  the  political  aspect  of  his  own  times,  will  never 
despair  of  the  fortunes  of  the  human  race  ;  but  will  act  upon  the  conviction, 
that  prejudice,  slavery,  and  corruption,  must  gradually  give  way  to  truth, 
liberty,  and  virtue." — Dugald  Stewart. 


'  I  HOPE,  Pa,'  said  Caroline,  « that  the  scheme  of  the  Coloni 
zation  Society  is,  beyond  any  doubt,  practicable  £' 

'  Some  have  pronounced  it  otherwise,'  said  Mr.  L.,  'and 
so  almost  every  great  enterprise  has  had  to  encounter  similar 
objections.  The  first  suggestions  touching  the  feasibility  of 
employing  the  agency  of  steam — the  first  proposition  for 
supplying  by  artificial  means  the  absence  of  natural  facilities 
for  inland  navigation — and  the  object  of  our  revolutionary 
struggle,  were  treated  by  many  as  impracticable.  So  were 
the  plans  of  him 

"  who  first  unfurl'd 
An  Eastern  banner  o'er  the  Western  world." 

But  the  experiment  in  this  case  is  made ;  the  obstacles  have 
been  overcome  ; — and  there  remains,  in  my  mind,  not  the 
slightest  doubt  of  its  entire  practicability. 


266  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Colonization  the  best  way  of  redressing  Africa's  wrongs. 

*  The  views  of  those  who  at  first  asserted  the  impractica 
bility  of  the  enterprise,   and  augured  its  defeat,  were  cer 
tainly  entitled  to  consideration  ;  nor  am  I  even  now  dispos 
ed  to  join  with  such  as   say  that  those   who,  at   this  late 
day,  assert   the  impracticability  of  the   colonization  enter 
prise,  "  deserve  a  straight  jacket" — but  it  does   appear  to 
me  that  since  a  prosperous  colony  has  been  established,  and 
the  most  formidable  difficulties  have  been  encountered  and 
overcome,  ultimate  success,  on  a  scale  of  vast  magnificence, 
may  be  confidently  expected. 

'It  has  been  well  remarked,  by  a  sound  philosopher,  that 
"  the  greatest  of  all  obstacles  to  the  improvement  of  the 
world,  is  the  prevailing  belief  of  its  improbability,  which 
damps  the  exertions  of  so  many  individuals  ;  and  that,  in 
proportion  as  the  contrary  opinion  becomes  general,  it  re 
alizes  the  event  which  it  leads  us  to  anticipate."  Mr. 
Stewart  farther  remarks  that  "  if  any  thing  can  have  a  ten 
dency  to  call  forth  in  the  public  service  the  exertions  of  in 
dividuals,  it  must  be  an  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  that  work 
in  which  they  are  conspiring,  and  a  belief  of  the  perma 
nence  of  those  benefits  which  they  confer  on  mankind,  by 
every  attempt  to  inform  and  enlighten  them."  This  enter 
prise  has  suffered  much  from  unnecessary  discouragement 
and  opposition  ;  but  it  is  a  noble  work,  and  in  respect  to 
the  benefit  which  it  promises,  may  well  rank  among  the 
first  of  the  benevolent  and  patriotic  efforts  of  man.' 

'It  certainly  appears  no  more  than  just,'  C.  remarked, 
« that  we  seek  in  this  way  to  do  Africa  good ;  we  have  long 
enough  done  her  wrong.' 

*  True,  my  daughter ;  and  I  cannot  better  express  my 
sentiment  on  this  part  of  our  duty,  than  to  use  the  language 
of  the  eloquent  and  excellent  Frelinghuysen  : — "  We  have 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  267 

The  cause  ol  patriotism. 

committed  a  mighty  trespass.  Africa  has  a  heavy  claim 
against  us.  It  is  a  long  and  bloody  catalogue  of  outrage 
and  oppression.  The  report  of  our  national  crime  has  gone 
up  to  heaven.  It  rose  upon  the  groans  and  tears  of  her 
kidnapped  children — the  infernal  horrors  of  the  slave-ship 
have,  in  ten  thousand  instances,  wrilng  from  distracted  bo 
soms  the  cry  for  vengeance ;  and  there  is  a  just  God  to  hear 
and  regard  it.  On  the  front  of  this  blessed  scheme  of  hu 
manity  is  inscribed,  in  better  than  golden  characters,  *  RE 
COMPENSE  TO  THE  INJURED.'  " 

*  There  is  another  consideration  of  interest  to  every  one 
who  loves  his   country  and  the  cause  of  God.     We  shall, 
by  colonization,  establish  the  liberties  of  Africa,  under  our 
own,   the   very  best  form  of  government,    and   cheer  that 
whole  land  with  the  pure  light  of  Christianity.' 

'  Pa,  I  cannot  think  of  an  object  which  seems  to  afford  a 
fairer  field  for  the  exercise  of  the  finest  feelings  of  the  true 
patriot  and  Christian.' 

*  What  is  patriotism  £'  said  Henry  :  '  I  have  thought  it 
would  be  difficult  to  define  it,  according  to  the  generally  un 
derstood  meaning  of  the  term  at  the  present  time.     Is  it  not 
a  feeling  that  influences  to  the  practice  of  benevolent  acts  of 
self-denial  and  noble  deeds  for  one's  country's  good  ?' 

*  That,  Henry,  is  the  very  best  meaning  of  the  term  when 
properly  used.     True  patriotism  is  not  a  mere  selfish  love 
of  country,  but  an  expansive   feeling  that  regards  the  evils 
that  threaten  or  afflict  the  community  at  large,  and  every 
portion  of  that  community,   and  labours  to  avert  or  remove 
them.     Show  me  thy  patriotism  without  thy  works,  every 
true  patriot  may  say,  and  I  will  show  thee  my  patriotism 


268     *  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Colonization  has  claims  on  the  patriot. 

by  my  works.  Empty  is  the  boast  of  a  patriotism  that 
nerves  the  grasp  of  sordid  lust  when  our  country  calls. 

"  Can  he  be  strenuous  in  his  country's  cause, 
Who  slights  the  chanties,  for  whose  dear  sake 
That  country,  if  at  all,  must  be  belov'd  ?" 

There  is  much  such  patriotism  in  our  day ;  and  also  too 
much  of  that  which  will  sacrifice  every  benevolent,  and 
Christian,  and  patriotic  cause  on  the  altar  of  sectarian  illibe- 
rality,  and  the  littleness  of  party  interests.  Ours  should  be 
a  patriotism  that  is  worthy  of  the  descendants  of  revolu 
tionary  heroes. 

'Slavery  is  a  national  sin,  and  its  expiation  must  be  na 
tional.  There  is  also  danger  in  delay,  for  God  is  a  God  of 
justice.  We  may  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact,  and  the  merce 
nary  hand  of  avarice  may  clench  the  fist  which  ought  to  be 
the  open  hand  of  benevolence  and  patriotism,  but  the  evil 
will  one  day  obtrude  itself  upon  our  notice.  We  were  now 
the  happiest  people  upon  earth,  but  for  this  leprosy  that  is 
upon  us.  These  2,000,000  of  bondmen  who  tread  this  soil 
of  freedom,  and  those  500,000  of  their  brethren  who  are 
nominally  free,  but  are  connected  with  them  in  all  their 
sympathies  and  in  all  their  interests,  with  their  constantly 
and  rapidly  increasing  numbers,  greatly  eclipse  our  pros 
pects  and  are  portentous  of  calamity !  It  surely  needs  not  a 
prophet's  ken  to  foretell  what  will  be  the  result  of  a  continu 
ance  of  the  present  state  of  things.  A  slight  knowledge  of 
human  nature,  aided  by  the  history  of  the  past,  is  sufficient 
for  the  purpose.  Our  black  population  was  once  a  mole 
hill,  comparatively ;  it  is  now  a  mountain — and  what  is 
worse,  that  mountain  is,  as  we  have  seen,  volcanic !  Short 
as  yet  have  been  its  irruptions  and  few ;  but  they  have  laid 
waste  valuable  lives,  and  have  caused  many  a  family  to 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  269 

Colonization  or  ruin. 

mourn,  sending  also  a  thrill  to  the  very  extremities  of  our 
land.  These  momentary  emissions,  we  have  reason  to  fear, 
are  but  the  prelude,  if  something  more  efficient  be  not  done 
for  our  relief  and  that  speedily,  of  a  general  and  awful  ex 
plosion.  Southampton  and  St.  Domingo  furnish  some  idea 
of  what  may  be,  and  of  what  will  be,  unless  this  Republic, 
so  backward  in  its  duty  to  itself  and  to  Africa,  awake  to  vi 
gorous  effort.  The  same  causes  will  produce  like  effects  so 
long  as  the  laws  of  nature  remain  unchanged,  and  the  na 
ture  of  man  the  same. 

*  Some,  it  is  true,  make  a  mock  at  the  evils  of  slavery, 
and  always  puff  at  the  idea  of  danger  ;  but  for  myself,  al 
though  not  made  of  so  yielding  materials  as  to  be  easily 
alarmed  by  merely  imaginary  fears,  I  confess  it  appears  far 
more  than  possible,  that  should  we  be  indifferent  to  the  sub 
ject,  and  angry  discussions  continue,  the  great  and  glorious 
Author  of  all  our  happiness  and  prosperity  may  be  provoked 
by  our  national  sins,  to  blast  our  national  blessings,  and  lay 
prematurely  in  the  grave  all  our  prospects. 

1  Empires  rise  and  fall  at  God's  command.  We  look 
back  through  the  long  vista  of  ages,  and  many  nations  that 
were  once,  are  now  no  more.  Others  are  mere  fragments 
and  shadows  of  what  was  once  their  pride. 

'  Nations,  since  they  will  not  exist  as  such  in  another 
world,  receive  the  retributions  of  divine  justice  here.  In 
what  has  been  in  the  history  of  nations,  we  may  read  our 
own  doom,  It  is  written — and  if  we  repent  not  of  the 
evil,  confessing  and  forsaking  our  sins,  whatever  our  na 
tional  sins  may  be,  we  must  abide  the  consequence.  There 
is,  in  what  we  now  see,  cause  to  fear.  Those  local  inter 
ests,  and  that  local  jealousy  and  personal  ambition  and  un 
feeling  cupidity  which  are  already  supplanting  the  former 
sterling  patriotism  of  our  country,  creating  discord,  justify- 

Y2 


270  CONVERSATIONS  ON    SLAVERY. 

Increase  of  blacks. 

ing  opposition  to  authority,  trampling  constitution  and  law 
under  foot,  glorying  in  party  devotion,  lightly  esteeming  the 
national  compact,  and  even  threatening  the  dissolution  of  our 
Union,  may  be  the  very  prelude  of  a  visitation  of  wrath  from 
the  power  of  infinite  Justice.  A  foreign  influence  encour 
aged  by  ourselves,  cherished  by  blind  party-zeal,  is  also 
every  day  acquiring  strength,  and  may  one  day  throw  its 
whole  weight  into  whatever  scale  may  tell  most  to  the  ruin 
of  our  hopes.  Our  own  native  citizens  of  the  North  are 
divided  in  sentiment — not  in  respect  to  the  evils  of  slavery 
itself — not  in  respect  to  the  necessity  of  doing  something  to 
avert  from  us  and  from  our  country  the  disgrace  and  the 
danger — but  in  respect  to  the  manner  of  doing  it ;  and  angry 
debate,  divisions  among  friends,  and  rioting  and  bloodshed  is 
the  consequence  \9 

'  The  violence  of  party  spirit,  and  the  atrocities  that  have 
been  committed  of  late  years  by  mobs,  it  appears  to  me, 
Pa,'  said  Caroline,  «  are  evidence  of  a  great  decline  in  cor 
rect  moral  sentiment,  and  forbode  still  greater  insecurity  and 
danger.' 

1  This  is,  indeed,  a  most  alarming  feature  in  the  present 
political  aspect  of  our  country,'  said  Mr.  L.  '  Against  mob 
law  in  any  country,  but  especially  one  like  ours,  there  is  no 
security,  except  in  the  sound  principles  and  correct  moral 
feeling  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  spoke  of  the  wheel 
which  is  upward  this  moment,  may  be  down  the  next,  and 
they  who  are  to-day  applauded,  may  to-morrow  be  the  foot 
ball  of  an  infatuated  and  infuriate  populace.  Nature's  great 
poet  has  well  described  the  influence  and  caprice  of  a  mob, 

"  You  are  no  surer,  no,. 
Than  is  the  coal  of  fire  upon  the  ice, 
Or  hailstone  in  the  sun.    Your  virtue  is,. 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  271 

Increase  of  blacks. 

To  make  him  worthy,  whose  offence  subdues  hian, 

And  curse  that  j.ustice  did  it., 

*****    He  that  depends 

Upon  your  favours,  swims  with  fins  of  lead 

And  hews  down  oaks  with  rushes.    Hang  ye !    Trust  ye  ? 

With  every  minute  you  do  change  a  mind  ; 

And  call  him  noble,  that  was  now  your  hate, 

Him  vile,  that  was  your  garland." 

A  resort  to  mob  violence  is  ever  to  be  deprecated,  and  should 
always  be  discouraged  by  every  good  citizen,  let  the  offence 
which  is  made  a  plea  for  the  measure  be  what  it  may.'* 

*  The  increase  of  slaves  in  our  country  is  very  rapid,  is 
it  not,  Pa,'  said  Henry. 

*The  author  is  happy  here  to  quote  the  following  correct  and  very  sensi 
ble  remarks  of  the  Rev.  George  A.  Baxter,  D.  D.,  of  Virginia :— "It  should 
always  be  kept  in  mind,  that  in  a  free  country,  the  worst  thing  that  can 
happen,  is  the  destruction  of  the  authority  of  law.  It  may  seem  to  be  an 
innocent,  or  even  a  laudable  thing,  to  punish  a  dangerous  emissary ;  but  let 
it  be  remembered,  that  there  is  no  medium  between  the  power  of  the  law 
and  the  arbitrary  power  of  man ;  and  the  arbitrary  power  of  men,  in  what 
ever  form,  is  despotism.  When  the  mob  rules,  we  have  an  hundred  tyrants 
instead  of  one  ;  but  the  more  numerous  our  tyrants,  the  worse  our  situation- 
Should  it  become  common  for  unauthorized  individuals  to  take  the  punish 
ment  of  real  or  supposed  crimes  into  their  own  hands,  any  thing  might  be 
made  a  crime,  every  thing  would  be  unsafe,  and  the  whole  population  must 
be  divided  into  clans  or  parties  for  the  purpose  of  defence  or  retaliation; 
every  thing  must  be  thrown  into  jeopardy  and  confusion,  and  we  should 
lose  all  the  attributes  of  a  civilized  and  Christian  people. 

"These  are  considerations,"  the  learned  Professor  adds,  "  which  ought  to 
have  prevented  much"  that  has  been  done  of  late  in  the  Southern  States. 
"  Some  of  our  citizens,"  he  says,"  seemed  to  lose  sight  of  these  principles 
in  the  moment  of  excitement,  but  since  the  alarm  has  somewhat  subsided, 
these  principles  appear  to  be  appreciated  by  the  great  body  of  the  com 
munity." 

It  is  confidently  hoped  and  believed  that  the  same  principles  commend 
themselves  to  the  great  body  of  the  people  in  every  part  of  our  Union.— 
May  these  sentiments  predominate,  and  may  all  people — South  or  North, 
East  or  West— Colonizationists  or  Abolitionists,  or  opposed  to  both  or  either, 
or  in  favour  of  both  or  either,  or  indifferent,  RESPECT  THE  LAWS. 


272  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Danger  arising  from  a  mixed  population. 

*  Yes ;    Mr.    Mathew    Carey  of    Philadelphia,   a  warm 
friend  to  humanity  and   advocate   for  colonization,  has  laid 
before  the  world  a  table  showing  the  progressive  increase  of 
the  coloured  population  of  our  country,  and  the  probable  in 
crease  for  the  time  to  come  ;  and  by  his  statement  it  appears 
that, 

In  1790,  our  coloured  population  was  757,178; 

1800,  1,006,921; 

1810,  1,377,780; 

1820,  1,771,658; 

1830,  -        2,330,039; 

which  shows  an  increase  of  1,572,831,  in  40  years. 

*  At  the  same  rate  of  increase,  it  will  be  for  the  next  40 
years,  as  follows  : 

In  1840,  whole  number  -  3,045,504; 

1650,  -  4,111,430; 

1860,  -  5,549,435; 

1870,  -  7,491,737.' 

1  How  formidable,'  said  Caroline,  «  would  be  an  insurrec 
tion  of  millions  of  slaves  !  and  these  perhaps  aided  by  tens 
of  thousands  of  naturalized  citizens  whose  sympathies  are 
all  with  adverse  powers,  and  abetted  also,  it  may  be,  by  the 
blind  zeal  of  many  native  citizens  who  consider  not  the  full 
tendency  of  their  views  and  efforts,  as  well  as  by  the  reck 
less  ambition  of  the  unprincipled  !  An  African  sceptre,  or 
that  of  some  other  foreign  power,  may  yet  be  wielded  over 
some  part  or  the  whole  of  our  country.' 

'  I  do  not  think  that  an  event  like  that  will  ever  be,'  said 
Mr.  L.,  4  although,  as  I  have  said,  we  are  far  from  secure. 
We  may  be  scourged,  and  that  severely,  to  drive  us  to  duty,, 
that  the  African  may  be  permitted  to  go  up  from  his  house 
of  bondage.  Band  after  band  of  the  unhappy  sons  of  Af» 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  273 

Dangers  to  be  apprehended. 

rica  may  be  cut  down,  by  the  sword  of  defence,  but  this  ne 
cessity  will  be  no  light  affliction  upon  the  heart  of  huma 
nity ;  and  it  will  be  no  light  judgment  which  falls  upon  us 
when  we  shall  look  over  the  long  catalogue  of  the  victims 
of  the  nocturnal  massacre — whole  sections  of  our  land  being 
turned  into  bloody  sepulchres,  filled  with  the  ghastly  corpses 
of  our  friends,  hoary  age  and  smiling  infancy,  manhood  in 
its  strength,  and  womanhood  in  its  loveliness,  virgins  in 
their  beauty,  and  young  men  in  their  vigour,  involved  in 
promiscuous  butchery,  and  strewed  beneath  the  bleeding 
thousands  of  slaves  and  their  abettors,  who,  having  done 
the  deed,  are  made  to  atone  for  it  by  their  own  blood,' 


274  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Even  partial  success  a  great  blessing. 


CONVERSATION  XXVIII. 


"  I  behold  with  the  sincerest  pleasure  the  commencement  of  an  institution 
\vhose  progress  and  termination  will,  I  trust,  be  attended  with  the  most  suc 
cessful  results.  I  shall  probably  not  live  to  witness  the  vast  changes  in  the 
condition  of  man  which  are  about  to  take  place  in  the  world;  but  the  era  is 
already  commenced,  its  progress  is  apparent,  its  end  is  certain.  *  *  Where 
then,  my  dear  Sir,  will  be  the  last  foot-hold  of  slavery  in  the  world?  Is  it 
destined  to  be  the  opprobrium  of  this  fine  country." — Lafayette. 


THE  conversation  being  resumed,  Mr.  L.  said,  '  If  the  colo 
nization  scheme  succeed,  even  partially,  does  it  not  ap 
pear  beyond  doubt,  my  children,  that  our  country  will  be 
greatly  benefited  ?  It  will  be  enriched.  Tens  of  thousands 
of  places  will  be  opened  for  those  of  our  own  colour,  and 
habits,  and  sympathies — and  by  a  more  wholesome  popula 
tion  and  grateful  labour,  industry  will  be  promoted,  misery 
alleviated,  our  country  strengthened.  Africans  themselves 
will  be  enriched  and  blessed  in  their  father's  native  land,  and 
the  benefit  will  be  thus  mutual.' 

Said  Henry,  « I  should  think  it  would  be  considered  a  set 
tled  point  that  general  and  immediate  emancipation  is  hardly 
safe,  and  not  preferable  to  slavery  either  for  the  whites  or 
the  blacks  ?' 

Mr.  L.  considered  it  to  be  '  a  sadly  demonstrative  truth  that 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  275 

Slaves  in  other  times,  of  the  colour  of  their  masters. 

the  Negro  cannot,  in  this  country,  become  an  enlightened 
and  useful  citizen,  so  long,  at  least,  as  what  are  denominated 
our  prejudices  against  colour,  &c.  remain  the  same  ;  for  such 
are  the  circumstances  in  which  he  will  be  placed,  unavoida 
bly — that  he  will  not,  cannot  feel  a  citizen's  nameless  incen 
tives  to  a  manly  and  noble  conduct.  The  almost  united 
voice  of  those  who  have  had  the  best  opportunity  of  judging 
in  the  case,  is  « liberate  them  only  on  the  condition  of  their 
going  to  Africa,  Hayti,  or  some  place  where  they  will  be 
blessed  by  their  liberty,  and  we  secure.'  Nor  is  this  the 
sentiment  of  those  who  are  advocates  for  slavery ;  but  of 
those  whose  souls  indignantly  disclaim  so  unworthy  a  bias, 
and  whose  hearts  bleed  for  injured  Africa. 

4  The  slavery  of  other  nations  has  been  that  chiefly  of 
men  of  the  same  complexion  with  the  free.  As  soon  as  the 
slave  was  released,  he  and  his  descendants  might  mingle  and 
lose  himself  in  the  general  community  of  the  country,  un 
distinguished  by  any  stamp  of  nature  upon  his  original. 
But  here,  the  features,  the  complexion,  and  every  peculiarity 
of  his  person,  pronounce  upon  the  ransomed  slave  another 
doom.  He  feels  it — and  he  feels  it  too  just  as  we  should 
feel  it,  our  conditions  reversed.  And  if  the  day  ever  arrives 
when  an  universal  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  the  South 
shall  be  effected,  and  they  remain  upon  the  soil,  those  whites 
who  may  remain  with  them  in  portions  of  the  country  where 
there  shall  be  a  decided  superiority  of  numbers  on  the  side 
of  the  blacks,  will  be  made  themselves  to  feel  that  the  dif 
ferences  which  nature  has  caused,  are  serious  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  their  peace  and  happiness.  The  blacks  will,  in 
their  turn,  resent  the  idea  of  inferiority,  assert  a  superiority 
themselves,  and  will  become  the  oppressors.  Such  is  the 
honest  opinion  of  thousands. 

1  The  object  of  the  Colonization  Society,  therefore,  meets 


276  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Colonization  unites  conflicting  interests. 

the  views  of  those  who  wish  the  freedom  of  slaves,  but  who 
desire  also  to  see  them  in  a  community  of  their  own,  "  where 
they  may  taste  the  joys,  sustain  the  honours,  and  be  stimu 
lated  by  the  lofty  aspirings  of  freemen ;  where  their  colour 
shall  be  the  common  colour,  and  where  a  darkness  of  skin 
shall  neither  cramp  the  expansive  energies  of  their  intellects, 
slacken  the  vigour  of  their  efforts,  nor  in  any  way  establish 
an  insuperable  barrier  between  them  and  the  first  honours  of 
the  state."  Believing  as  they  do,  and  in  perfect  consisten 
cy  with  the  kindliest  regard  for  their  coloured  brethren,  that 
black  and  while  can  never  associate  in  society  as  white  now 
associates  with  white,  on  equal  terms,  having  one  commu 
nity  of  interest  in  business,  in  marriage,  and  the  participa 
tion  of  all  rights  ;  and  that,  therefore,  they  can  never  live  to 
gether  in  happiness,  and  that  one  of  these  two  great  and  dis 
tinctive  bodies  must  always  hold  the  ascendency,  they  feel 
impelled  by  a  sacred  regard  for  the  best  interests  of  their  co 
loured  brethren,  to  encourage  their  colonization  in  a  land, 
where  if  their  happiness  consists  at  all  in  independence,  they 
may  be  most  happy.' 

Said  Caroline,  '  It  is  very  evident  that  great  wisdom  and 
prudence  are  necessary  in  determining  a  question  of  such  mo 
ment.  O,  I  wish  that  good  men  could  all  think  alike,  and 
act  together  in  this  matter,  pursuing  right  measures  and  cher 
ishing  right  desires.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  whole  subject, 
in  all  its  relations  and  bearings,  is  too  little  understood.' 

'Dr.  HODGKIN,  of  London,  a  warm  friend  and  advocate  of 
Colonization,  has  suggested  that  the  fundamental  principle 
of  the  Colonization  Society  may  be  compared  with  that  of 
the  Bible  Society,  whose  avowed  object  is  the  diffusion  of 
the  pure  word  of  God,  "  without  note  or  comment,  an  ob 
ject  to  which  few  can  be  opposed  who  are  not  opposed  to 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  277 

Both  blacks  and  whites  benefited  by  Colonization. 

the  Bible."  '*  Its  single  object  is  'the  colonization  of  the 
free  people  of  colour,  with  their  consent,  in  Africa,  or  such 
other  place  as  Congress  may  deem  most  expedient.'  I  con 
ceive,"  says  Dr.  Hodgkin,  "that  the  founders  of  the  society 
are  entitled  to  praise  for  having  given  so  brief,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  so  comprehensive  a  definition  of  their  object.  It 
sets  forth  explicitly  abundant  work  for  any  society  to  under 
take,  without  advancing  any  thing  which  can  come  in_colli* 
sion  with  the  expressed  or  even  secret  opinions  of  any  par 
ties  or  individuals,  unless  it  be  of  those  who  believe  that  the 
well-being  of  the  blacks  will  be  promoted  in  proportion  to 
the  increase  of  their  numbers  within  the  States,  a  doctrine 
which  appears  to  have  originated  since  the  formation  of  the 
Colonization  Society.  *  *  It  cannot,  however,  be  sup 
posed  that  the  supporters  of  the  Bible  Society  merely  con 
template  the  scattering  of  Bibles  and  Testaments,  from  which 
no  other  effect  is  to  proceed  than  the  mere  occupation  of 
space.  They  look  forward  to  their  becoming  the  powerful 
agents  of  an  enlightening  and  moralizing  influence.  But  if 
we  interrogate  the  members  of  that  society  individually,  we 
shall  probably  find,  that,  besides  the  one  object  in  which 
they  all  cordially  unite,  there  are  other  inducements,  differing 
in.  each,  and  which  could  not  be  brought  forward  without 
their  again  becoming  the  subjects  of  schismatic  convul 
sions  and  violent  dispute.  *  *  *  The  principal  motive  ap 
pears  to  be  to  benefit  the  coloured  population ;  and  more 
especially  that  portion  of  it,  which,  though  not  literally 
loaded  with  servile  chains,  is  nevertheless  suffering  from  the 
pains  of  slavery,  and,  with  but  few  exceptions,  reduced  to  a 
miserable  and  degraded  rank  in  society,  and  for  whose  as* 
sistance  many  comparatively  unsuccessful  efforts  have  pre* 
viously  been  made.  At  the  same  time  the  founders  of  the 
Society  were  fully  sensible  that  the  baneful  influence  of 

z 


278  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

An  honourable  instance. 

slavery  was  by  no  means  limited  to  those  objects  of  their 
care,  but  that  it  was  also  generally  felt  by  the  great  mass  of 
the  white  population." 

«  Permit  me  here,  my  dear  children,'  said  Mr.  L.,  « to 
mention  the  case  of  one  whom  I  respect  and  greatly  esteem, 
with  whom  I  have  often  sat  at  the  table  of  our  common 
Lord,  and  whom  I  have  seen  year  after  year  shedding  around 
him  the  influence  of  a  Christian  example,  in  circumstances 
both  prosperous  and  afflictive.  I  took  some  pains,  a  few  years 
since,  when  travelling  in  the  Southern  part  of  our  country, 
to  call  upon  him,  that  I  might  converse  with  him  on  the  sub 
ject  of  our  present  conversation .  This  man — I  will  recall  the 
expression — this  gentleman,  for  gentleman  he  was,  in  the 
legitimate  sense  of  the  term,  had  been  himself  a  slave. 
He  gave  for  his  freedom,  from  what  he  had  earned  over  and 
above  the  daily  sum  which  was  required  by  an  indulgent 
master,  who  had  hired  him  his  time,  one  thousand  dollars. 
He  then,  by  patient  and  persevering  industry  and  frugality, 
purchased  his  wife  and  child  who  were  also  slaves ;  and  for 
them  was  required  to  give  to  their  exorbitant  master,  fourteen 
hundred  dollars!  When  he  told  me  of  this  latter  fact, 
which  Lknevv  before,  he  said,  with  a  smile  of  self-gratula- 
tion,  and  with  two  meanings,  both  of  which  I  believe  were 
most  sincere,  "  She  is  my  dear  wife !"  He  still  lives  to 
enjoy  the  fruit  of  his  noble  efforts,  except  as  death  has  re 
moved  his  companion.  He  is  of  a  commanding  person,  modest 
demeanour,  gentlemanly  address,  well-informed  mind,  humble 
piety,  good  judgment,  business  talents,  and  was,  when  I  last 
saw  him,  surrounded  by  an  interesting  family,  and  possessed 
of  two  valuable  plantations.  He  was  also  said  to  be  owner  of 
a  large  number  of  slaves,  and  had  been  instrumental  in  pro 
curing  the  freedom  of  a  still  larger  number.  Said  this  indi- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  279 

Views  of  a  virtuous,  intelligent  coloured  man. 

vidual,  in  answer  to  my  inquiries,  designed  to  elicit  his 
views,  "  C  cannot,  to  be  sure,  contemplate  the  condition  of 
my  family  without  feeling.  Colour  is  a  dividing  line  that  of 
course  separates  them  from  the  society  of  white  people,  in  a 
great  measure,  and  there  are  few  associates  for  them  of  suffi 
cient  respectability  among  the  coloured.  Respectable  co 
loured  people  are  not  indeed  at  home  in  this  country.  I  feel 
most  for  my  children,"  said  he,  the  big  tear  starting  in  his 
eye  and  falling  down  his  manly  cheek.  I  suggested  that 
some  had  thought  to  better  their  condition  by  removal;  he 
said,  "  some  recommended  Ohio,  some  New-England,  or 
elsewhere,  but  the  same  difficulty  existed  in  every  place. 
Much  had  been  said  of  Hayti,  but  our  own  government  and 
institutions  were  better  than  their's.  He  had  read  and  thought 
much  of  Liberia,  and  approved  of  the  colony,  but  the  colour 
ed  people  generally,  prefer  to  remain  where  they  are  ;  he  was 
himself  getting  to  be  old,  and  should  soon  be  done  with  earth." 
He  expressed  himself  with  modesty  and  caution,  but  with 
proper  self-respect,  intimating  that  if  he  could  see  his  family 
differently  situated,  not  isolated  as  they  were,  he  should  die 
happy.  It  was  decidedly  his  opinion  that  the  whites  and 
blacks  can  never  live  together  as  one  community,  both  en 
joying  all  those  privileges  which  are  indispensable  to  the 
happiness  of  either. 

*  I  will  now  advert  briefly  to  other  considerations  which 
should  influence  us  in  desiring  to  see  the  evils  and  the  re 
proach  of  slavery  done  away. 

*  A  powerful  motive,  in  my  mind,  is  the  fact,  that  whilst 
humanity  and  patriotism  call  us  to  the  work,  the  nations  of 
the  earth  look  to  us  that  we  should  do  it.     They  have  before 
them,  hung  up,  as  it  were  in  mid-heaven,  in  view  of  the 
whole  world,  for  all  to  gaze  upon,  that  noble  instrument,  our 
Declaration  of  Independence. 


280  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

A  nation's  oath. — Our  obligations  as  a  Christian  country. 

*  That  Declaration,  it  has  been  well  said,  is  a  nation's  oath  ; 
the  solemn  and  direct  appeal  of  a  christion  nation  to  the  high 
Providence  above;  an  appeal,  the  responsibilities  of  which 
were  assumed  in  the   face  of  the  whole  world.     When  I 
think  of  that  declaration,  and  of  the  comment  which  slavery 
furnishes  upon  one  line  of  it,  I  confess  that  I  feel  the  patriot's 
glow  of  wounded  pride  and  deep  regret;  and,  were  it  prac 
ticable,  I  would  fain  hold  up  that  memorable  instrument  to 
the  view  of  my  countrymen,  and  beseech   them  to  weigh 
again  its  solemn  import.     With  a  voice  that  should  sound 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  California,  and  from  these  shores 
to  the  farthest  West,  could  it  be  done  consistently  with  our 
obligations  to  all,  I  would   exhort  our  country  to  look,  and 
by  harmonious   action  acquit  itself  of  its  duty,  wiping  off 
from  our  national  escutcheon  the  only  blot  that  has  ever  fallen 
upon  it.     Could   the  resources  of  our  national  treasury  be 
brought  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  noble  deed,  every  sec 
tion  of  our  common   country  uniting  cheerfully  in  the  ar 
rangement,  it  would  reflect  high  honour  upon  our  beloved 
land. 

'•  Again,  we  should  feel  that  as  a  Christian  people  we  owe 
a  duty  to  Africa  and  her  oppressed  children.  Although  a 
Christian  country,  our  fathers,  such  was  the  ignorance  of  those 
times  in  respect  to  the  true  nature  and  evils  of  slavery,  sin 
ned  against  humanity,  and  wronged  that  unhappy,  pagan 
continent.  We  should  feel  that  it  is  our  duty  to  do  all  that 
Providence  now  permits,  to  recompense  Africa.  And  we 
should  also  feel  that  if  we  neglect  our  duty  in  this  respect, 
we  have  the  more  reason  to  tremble  for  our  safety,  since, 
where  much  is  given,  the  more  is  required.' 

*  I  cannot  see,'  Caroline  very  properly  remarked,  '  how 
any  one  who  has  the  heart  of  a  man,  can  be  indifferent 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Heaven  on  the  side  of  Africa. 


to  the  object;  much  less  how  any  Christian  in  feeling  can 
oppose.' 

Mr.  L.  after  a  moment's  pause,  here  repeated  those  lines 
from  Pierpont,. 

"  Hear'st  thou,  O  God,  those  chains, 
Clanking  on  Freedom's  plains, 

By  Christian's  wrought  ? 
Them  who  those  chains  have  worn, 
Christians  from  home  have  lorn,. 
Christians  have  hither  borne, 

Christians  have  bought!"" 

*  God  doe&  hear,'  Mr.  L.  continued,  *  and  already  does  he 
who  has  said  "  ^Ethiopia  shall  soon  stretch  out  her  hands 
unto  God,"  see  her  beginning  to  stretch  out  her  hands,  and 
implore  his  blessing.  She  lifts  one  hand  to  heaven  and 
prays  ;  with  the  other  she  beckons  her  children  to  come  up 
from  their  house  of  bondage.  If  we  awake  to  our  duty, 
heaven  will  be  with  us  ;  if  we  will  hold  back  or  resist,  we 
may  still  be  assured  that  God  is  with  Africa.  Her  cause  is 
the  cause  of  justice,  of  religion,  of  humanity.  God  will 
favour  it,  and  if  we  oppose,  he  may  do  it  at  our  cost. 

*  It  is  true  the  Almighty  has  not  broken  the  silence  of  the 
heavens,  to  speak  in  favour  of  Africa's  cause*  and  of  the  co 
lonization  enterprise;  but  his  approbation  has  not  been  with 
held.  Conducted  with  reference  to  his  will  and  glory,  with 
regard  to  his  authority,  having  also  the  moral  and  religious 
good,  as  well  as  the  civil  and  political  elevation  of  the  colo 
nists  in  view,  God  has  decidedly  favoured  the  cause,  and 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  whatever  that  the  coloniza 
tion  enterprise  is  pleasing  to  him.  As  my  greatly  esteemed 
friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beecher  said,  the  other  day,  in  his  colo 
nization  address  at  Pittsburgh,  "  I  do  not  think  that  a  socie 
ty,  heaven-moved  as  this  society  was,  by  such  wisdom  as 


2.83=  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Our  obligations  as  a  Christian  country. 

Samuel  J.  Mills  was  blessed  with,  and  by  such  wisdom  as 
he  commanded  into  its  service,  moved  on  by  such  faith  and 
prayer,  and  so  blessed  of  heaven,  as  this  has  been  in  its  past 
labours,  and  still  is,  could  have  been  born  by  wisdom  from 
beneath.  As  the  natives  who  chased  Captain  Wilson,  the 
commander  of  the  Dulf,  until  they  saw  him  plunge  into  a 
stream  so  full  of  alligators  that  if  a  man  did  but  put  his  finger 
in  the  water  it  would  be  bitten  off,  and  who  supposed  when 
they  saw  it,  that  they  need  do  no  more,  but  upon  beholding 
him  emerging  and  climbing  up  the  bank  on  the  other  side, 
cried,  '  Don't  fire,  he  is  God's  man  :'  so  I  would  say  of  this 
society,  it  is  God's  Society.  In  its  commencement  it  was 
his;  in  its  progress  it  has  been  his ;  and  the  station  it  now 
occupies  in  the  midst  of  all  the  difficulties  which  have  grown 
out  of  inexperience,  and  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  subject, 
shows  it  to  be  his  ;  and  so  does  its  success  in  Africa." 

* It  appears  to  me,'  said  Caroline,  « that  the  favour  of 
heaven  towards  the  colonies,  and  the  cause  of  colonization, 
is  very  apparent ;  and  I  wonder  that  any  should  dare  op 
pose,  lest,  haply,  they  "  be  found  fighting  against  God." 
And  then  the  fact  that  so  many  good  and  wise  men  who  can 
be  influenced  on  this  subject  by  no  sinister  motives,  some  of 
whom  were  once  unfavourable  to  colonization,  but  on  exami 
nation  have  changed  their  minds,  are  among  the  warm, 
friends  and  self-denying  promoters  of  colonization,  is  to  my 
mind  evidence  that  is  almost 

"  Confirmation  strong 
As  holy  writ." 

A  Madison,  a  Monroe,  a  Carroll,  Judge  Washington,  our  great 
ly  venerated  and  now  lamented  good  Bishop  White,  Robert 
Ralston,  John  Marshall,  William  Wirt,  Fitzhugh,  Finley, 
Evarts,  Cornelius,  Wisner,  sainted  spirits  now  in  heaven, 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 


Africa  and  colonization  the  subject  of  many  prayera. 

with  Ashmun,  and  Mills,  and  Carey,  and  Randall,  and  Cox, 
and  Anderson,  and  others  who  died  in  the  service  of  Africa  ; 
what  a  noble  list  might  we  write  of  its  friends  from  the  cata 
logue  of  the  lamented  dead,  whose  remembrance  is  blessed  ! 
And  then  the  living  —  what  an  array  of  the  names  of  the 
great  and  the  good  come  up  before  the  mind  !' 

*  Many  prayers  ascend  to  heaven,'  said  Mr.  L.,  *  in  behalf 
of  the  colonization  enterprise.  It  is  a  cause  dear  to  many  a 
pious  heart.' 


284  CONVERSATIONS    ON  SLAVERY. 

A  great  and  worthy  enterprise. 


CONVERSATION   XXTX. 


"  In  vain  ye  limit  mind's  unwearied  spring: 
What!  can  ye  lull  the  winged  winds  asleep, 
Arrest  the  rolling  world,  or  ehain  the  deep?" — Campbell. 


«  GOOD  MORNING,  my  children.' 
'  Good  morning,  Pa,'  said  Henry. 

1  Good  morning,  Pa,'  said  Caroline.  « I  have  been  think 
ing  much  of  Africa  and  Colonization,  of  America  and  our 
duty,'  said  Caroline ;  '  and  the  more  I  contemplate  it,  the 
more  the  work  in  which  the  Colonization  Society  is  engaged, 
appears  so  noble  and  godlike,  that  I  should  think  it  would 
be  considered  by  all  as  worthy  of  the  noblest  energies  of  our 
nature — worthy  the  efforts  and  prayers  of  every  patriot  and 
Christian  in  our  land.' 

'  We  have  reason  to  hope  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant,' 
said  Mr.  L.,  '  when  the  benevolent  and  pious  of  our  land 
will  all  engage  in  this  work,  regarding  Africa,  more  than  we 
have  hitherto  done,  as  a  wide  field  for  missionary  enter- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  285 

Africa's  claims  beginning  to  be  acknowledged. 

prise,  where  our   most  ardent  wishes  and  untiring  efforts 
should  be  directed. 

Every  passing  year,  the  condition  and  claims  of  Africa 
are  more  and  better  understood,  and  the  subject  is  taking 
deeper  and  deeper  hold  on  the  honour,  the  justice,  the  pa 
triotic  and  Christian  sympathies  of  our  highly  favoured  coun 
try.  The  work  will  be  done — and  I  love  to  anticipate  the 
day. 

"  Where  barb'rous  hordes  on  Scythian  mountains  roam, 
Truth,  Mercy,  Freedom,  yet  shall  find  a  home; 
Where'er  degraded  nature  bleeds  and  pines, 
From  Guinea's  coast  to  Siber's  dreary  mines, 
Truth  shall  pervade  th'  unfathom'd  darkness  there, 
And  light  the  dreadful  features  of  despair; 
There  the  stern  captive  spurn  his  heavy  load, 
And  ask  the  image  back  that  heaven  bestow'd  : 
Fierce  in  his  eyes  the  fire  of  valour  burn, 
And,  as  the  slave  departs,  the  man  return." 


Yes,  it  will  be  done,  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken 
it.  It  will  be  done — and  Africa,  enlightened,  regenerated, 
blessed,  will  remember  the  Colonization  Society  as  her 
MOSES,  which  led  her  up  from  bondage.  Forgetting  her 
wrongs,  obliterating  from  her  mind  the  dark  history  of  all 
her  griefs,  and  remembering  only  the  blessings  received,  she 
will  look  to  this  happy  land,  and  say,  breathing  the  sweet 
spirit  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  "  There  are  our  Benefac 
tors."  ' 

4 1  trust,  Pa,  the  vision  will  be  fulfilled.  I  love  to  think 
of  Africa  as  a  field  of  missionary  enterprise.  It  is  so  ex 
tensive,  and  gives  promise  of  such  rich  blessings.' 

*  As  a  missionary  field/  said  Mr.  L.,  *  it  is  limited  only  by 


286  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERf . 

Africa  a  missionary  field. 

the  confines  of  one  of  the  largest  quarters  of  the  habitable 
globe.  Other  missionary  operations,  although  successful  to 
a  considerable  degree,  have  not  had  a  success  corresponding 
in  extent  with  the  piety  and  benevolence  of  their  aim,  or 
with  the  amount  of  means  which  have  been  applied.  Great 
advantages  are  united  in  the  colonization  enterprise.  "  Every 
emigrant  to  Africa  is  a  missionary  going  forth  with  his  cre 
dentials,  in  the  holy  cause  of  civilization  and  religion  and 
free  institutions,  and  the  colonies  which  we  establish  will  be 
so  many  points  from  which  the  beams  of  Christianity  and 
civilization  will  radiate  on  all  that  empire  of  ignorance  and 
sin.  These  influences  must  be  poured  in  from  the  western 
coast.  The  northern  boundary  is  within  the  dominion  of 
the  false  Prophet,  and  no  light  is  to  be  expected  from  that 
direction.  If  we  look  towards  its  eastern  border,  we  look  to 
the  region  and  shadow  of  death."  Colonization  deviates  from 
the  practice  of  other  missionary  institutions,  and  employs  as 
agents  the  very  brethren  of  the  people  sought  to  be  convert 
ed.  "  It  proposes  to  send,  not  one  or  two  pious  men  into  a 
foreign  land,  among  a  different  and  perhaps  suspicious  race, 
of  another  complexion ;  but  to  transport  annually,  for  an 
indefinite  number  of  years,  hundreds  and  thousands  of  mis 
sionaries,  of  the  descendants  of  Africa  herself,  with  the 
same  interests,  sympathies,  and  constitutions  of  the  natives. 
This  colony  of  missionaries  is  to  operate  not  alone  by  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  but  also  by  works  of  ocular  de 
monstration.  It  will  open  forests,  build  towns,  erect  tem 
ples  of  worship,  and  practically  exhibit  to  the  sons  of  Af 
rica  the  beautiful  moral  spectacle  and  the  superior  advan 
tages  of  our  own  religious  and  social  systems."  Its  means 
are  simple  ;  its  end  is  grand  and  magnificent.  Christianity 
will  beautify  Africa,  and  civilization  will  enlighten  it.  The 
Mahometans  of  the  North  will  feel  the  influence ;  the  Pa- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  287 

Bright  prospects. — Fond  anticipation  of  Mills. 

gans  who  worship  in  her  forests  and  groves,  will  be  saved ; 
Abyssinia  now  lighted  by  a  few  rays  of  Christian  light,  will 
feel  the  full  shining  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness  ;  idols  will 
fall ;  human  blood  will  no  more  be  poured  from  victims  sa 
crificed  ;  the  slave-ship  will  be  driven  from  the  coast ;  and 
Africa  will  feel  a  return  of  more  than  Egyptian  greatness — 
more  than  Carthagenian  glory. 

*  This  seems  to  have  been  the  view  which  the  sainted 
Mills  had  at  the  very  first.  "If,"  says  he,  "  by  pursuing 
the  object  now  in  view,  a  few  of  the  free  blacks  of  good 
character  could  be  settled  in  any  part  of  the  African  coast, 
they  might  be  the  means  of  introducing  civilization  and  re 
ligion  among  the  barbarous  nations  there,  and  their  settle 
ment  might  increase  gradually,  and  some  might  in  suitable 
time  go  out  from  that  settlement,  and  from  others,  and  prove 
the  occasion  of  great  good." 

*To  what  work  more  noble,  could  the  powers  of  this 
whole  nation  be  applied,  than  that  of  bringing  up  from  dark 
ness,  debasement,  and  misery,  a  race  of  men,  and  shedding 
abroad  over  the  wide  territories  of  Africa,  the  light  of  sci* 
ence,  freedom,  and  Christianity.  Whilst  humanity  points  to 
the  thousands  of  the  victims  of  the  slave-trade,  and  conjures 
us  to  aid  in  its  suppression — and  whilst  patriotism  calls  us 
to  seek  our  country's  good  and  wash  our  hands  as  a  nation 
of  the  guilt  of  slavery,  religion  speaks  with  loftier  tone  and 
instructs  us  that  all  men  are  "  one  flesh" — that  we  are  breth 
ren — that  he  who  loves  not  his  brother,  cannot  love 
God — that  all  are  equally  bound  to  the  service  of  the  Al 
mighty — that  all  are  equally  entitled  to  the  good  offices 
of  each  other,  and  that  he  who  would  not  lay  down  his  life 
for  his  brethren,  has  not  ascended  to  the  height  of  the  Sa* 
viour's  charity.  The  day  will  come  when  Christian  princi- 


288  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Emancipation  not  our  only  duty. 

pies  shall  rule   the   world,  and  Africa  will  be  a  bright  and 
happy  part  of  the  Saviour's  dominions.' 


Henry  here  started  a  difficulty  on  which  he  had  thought 
much 

*  We  will  admit,'  said  he,  '  that  emancipation  cannot  libe 
rate  us  from  the  responsibility  that  rests  upon  us  ;  that  we 
must  do  what  we  can  to  provide  for  our  coloured  population 
in  a  country  where  they  shall  be  truly  free  ;  and  that  we 
must  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  the  annihilation  of 
the  slave-trade,  and  the  regeneration  of  Africa.  But  is  it 
not  to  be  feared  that  there  may  be  a  lack  of  mental  capacity 
for  self-government,  which  will,  after  all,  render  it  impossi 
ble  for  them  to  become  a  free,  civilized,  and  independent 
nation,  and  make  abortive  all  plans  for  their  separate  and  in 
dependent  existence  ?' 

*  Recollect,    Henry,'    said    his    father,   *  that  but  a  few 
years   since,  the   coloured  population  of  St.  Domingo  was 
sunk  in  all  the  degradation  and  ignorance  and   improvidence 
of  slavery.     They  took  the  work  of  emancipation  into  their 
own  hands,  and  effecting  their  deliverance,  established  a  re 
gular  government,  enacted  wholesome  laws,  ably  adminis 
tered  those  laws,  and  commenced  a  march  of  improvement 
which  promises  happy  results.     The  world  cannot  exhibit 
a  brighter  example  of  wisdom  and  prudence,  if  we  consider 
that  example  in  connexion  with  their  former  debasement.' 

*  But,  oh  !'  said  Caroline,  with  energy,  '  'twas  a  bloody, 
cruel  struggle.' 

4  Yes  ;'  said  Mr.  L.,  '  there  were  scenes  of  violence  at* 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  289 

The  United  States  must  engage  in  the  work. 

tending  it,  which  every  benevolent   heart  deplores.     The 
very  thought  of  it  makes  one  shudder.' 

*  And  yet,  Pa,'  said  Henry,  '  we  cannot  but  respect  the 
mental  capacity  and  the  energy  of  character,  which  brought 
the  final  result. 

'  Why,  Pa,  since  the  stain  of  slavery  is  national,  and  we 
as  a  nation  are  so  deeply  concerned  in  its  removal,  may  not 
appropriations  be  made  from  the  national  treasury  to  aid  ii» 
the  object  ?  If  our  national  Congress  would  agree  to  sustain 
the  expense  of  the  removal  of  the  blacks  who  feel  disposed 
to  colonize,  and  to  relieve  the  owners  of  slaves  of  a  part  of 
that  sacrifice  which  must  be  consequent  on  relinquishing 
their  claims,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  work  might  proceed 
with  as  much  despatch  at  least  as  would  be  consistent  with 
the  safety  of  the  settlements.' 

Mr.  L.  replied,  « Several  of  our  most  eminent  statesmen 
have  recommended  the  appropriation  of  the  income  arising 
from  the  sale  of  the  public  lands,  to  the  aid  of  African  co 
lonization.  Mr.  Madison  has  suggested  that  if  doubts  are 
entertained  by  any  as  to  the  power  of  Congress  to  appro 
priate  the  national  funds  to  the  object,  the  requisite  authority 
might  easily  be  obtained  by  an  amendment  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  States  both  North  and 
South  would  approve  the  measure.  In  my  own  view,  there 
is  no  doubt  of  the  right  of  appropriation.  The  public  mo 
ney  has  been  expended  in  aid  of  colonization,  and  why 
may  it  not  be  still  further  appropriated?  Mr.  Jefferson 
said  in  1811,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Clay,  in  reference  to  a  colo 
ny  in  Africa,  "  Indeed,  nothing  is  more  to  be  wished  than 
that  the  United  States  would  themselves  undertake  to  make 

Aa 


290  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Right  of  appropriation. 

such  an  establishment  on  the  coast  of  Africa."  His  various 
correspondence  and  efforts  in  relation  to  this  matter,  clearly 
show  what  were  his  views.  And,  said  Mr.  Monroe,  "  As  to 
the  people  of  colour,  if  the  people  of  the  Southern  States 
wish  to  emancipate  them,  (and  I  never  will  consent  to  eman 
cipate  them  without  sending  them  out  of  the  country,)  they 
may  invite  the  United  States  to  assist  us  ;  but  without  such 
an  invitation,  the  other  States  ought  not,  and  will  not,  inter 
fere.  I  am  for  marching  on  with  the  greatest  circumspec 
tion  upon  this  subject."  These  distinguished  men  seem  to 
have  had  no  insuperable  difficulty  in  regard  to  the  constitu 
tional  question  of  the  right  of  appropriation.' 

*I  love,'  said  Caroline,  *  to  think  it  possible  that  the  day 
will  come,  and  that  it  is  already  near,  when  our  country  will 
find  every  obstacle  removed  for  the  free  exercise  of  our  ut 
most  benevolence.  I  long  to  see  our  country  free  from 
slavery's  stain ;  I  long  to  see  the  children  of  Africa  go  forth 
by  the  free  consent  of  the  South,  and  by  the  friendly  aid  of 
our  whole  country,  from  their  house  of  bondage ;  and  I  con 
fess  I  long  as  much,  or  more,  to  see  Africa  free  through 
the  influence  of  the  gospel.  I  was  never  accustomed,  until 
these  conversations,  to  look  upon  colonization  as  a  mission 
ary  enterprise.  But  now,  viewed  in  this  light  alone,  it  ap 
pears  to  me  one  of  the  grandest  schemes  of  true  Christian 
benevolence  that  was  ever  undertaken  by  man.' 

'Colonization,'  Mr.  L.  rejoined,  *  proposes  liberty  to 
Africa  and  her  children  in  a  nobler  sense  than  is  generally 
considered.  It  proposes  freedom,  indeed,  from  physical 
bondage ;  and,  although  not  by  any  compulsory  or  objec 
tionable  process,  (which  surely  should  greatly  recommend  it 
to  all  friends  of  peace  and  justice,)  it  proposes  to  secure 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  291 

True  liberty  secured  to  Africa. 

great  temporal  blessings  to  a  now  enslaved  people,  and  to 
a  continent ;  but  it  proposes  more — a  liberty 

"  unsung 

By  poets,  and  by  senators  unpraised  ; 
Which  monarchs  cannot  give,  nor  all  the  powers 
Of  earth  and  hell  confederate  take  away, 
Which,  whoso  feels,  shall  be  enslaved  no  more  ; 
'Tis  liberty  of  heart  derived  from  heaven." ' 

The  conversation  was  now  closed  with  the  understanding 
that  it  should  be  resumed  on  the  morrow. 


292  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Objections  answered. 


CONVERSATION  XXX. 


"  The  God  of  heaven,  I  believe  from  my  very  soul,  is  with  us.  Under 
such  auspices  we  cannot  fail.  With  zeal,  energy,  and  perseverance,  we 
shall  subdue  all  difficulties  and  ultimately  realize  every  hope." 

Henry  Clay. 


HENRY  observed  that  he  had  'noticed,  on  looking  over  the 
anti-colonization  publications,  that  it  is  objected  that,  even  if 
funds  are  furnished,  it  will  be  impossible  to  transport  so  great 
numbers  to  Africa  as  the  present  and  rapidly  increasing  co 
loured  population  of  our  country,  vessels  not  being  sufficiently 
numerous  for  the  purpose.' 

Mr.  L.  replied,  « I  know  that  this  is  said ;  and  it,  perhaps, 
strikes  the  mind  of  the  casual  observer  with  some  force. 
The  annual  increase  of  our  coloured  population,  80,000  or 
more  being  added  every  year,  is  great;  and  the  annual  in 
crease  may  be  more  than  100,000  before  the  necessary  ar 
rangements  can  be  made  for  the  removal  of  a  much  greater 
number  per  annum  than  hitherto.  But  with  adequate  means, 
and  under  the  protection  of  the  national  government,  the 
transportation  of  emigrants  will  become  a  great  and  impor 
tant  branch  of  business.  Our  navigajors  will  provide  ships 
enough,  when  they  are  sure  of  a  reasonable  recompense.  A 
profitable  commerce  will  be  opened  with  Africa  for  her  im- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  293 

Means  of  transportation. 

portant  native  productions ;  and  the  growing  colonies  will 
themselves  navigate  the  seas,  claiming  a  share  of  the  honour 
and  profits  of  the  transportation.  Increasing  numbers  of  the 
free  will,  unaided,  also  find  their  way  to  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  and  "  having  formed  establishments  of  their  own, 
and  in  their  turn  visiting  our  shores  with  crews  of  coloured 
men,  enterprising  and  prosperous,  they  will  draw  others 
after  them"  to  the  then  happy  and  growing  colonies  from 
which  they  come. 

*  How  many,  suppose  you,  are  every  year  transported  into 
Canada  and  to  this  country,  from  among  the  refuse  popula 
tion  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ?  Thousands  of  these  are 
sent  in  crowds  and  landed  upon  our  shores  as  forlorn  out 
casts.  We  would  do  better  by  Africans  than  Great  Britain, 
with  all  her  boasted  philanthropy,  does  even  for  her  own  chil 
dren.  We  would  place  them  under  far  more  favourable  cir 
cumstances.  And  our  resources  are  fully  equal  to  all  that 
we  can  desire,  if  the  national  aid  may  only  be  obtained. 
United  States'  ships  of  war  might  be  advantageously  em 
ployed  in  this  service,  in  time  of  peace,  transporting  under 
the  stars  and  stripes  of  the  national  flag,  to  the  land  of  their 
ancestors,  the  sons  of  injured  Africa,  where  they  may  enjoy 
the  full  blessings  of  religion  and  liberty.  It  would  be  a  noble 
service,  and  an  honour  to  our  flag. 

'  It  is  true,  we  do  not  expect  to  remove  a  world,  without 
preparing  for  the  operation ;  but  the  transportation  of  our 
coloured  population  can  be  effected,  and  expeditiously  too, 
in  comparison  with  the  magnitude  of  the  work.  Great 
things  are  usually  accomplished  slowly.  Liberia  has  ad 
vanced  far  more  rapidly  than  did  the  infant  colonies  of 
this  country.  It  has  met  with  obstacles,  in  its  progress, 
and  so  did  these  colonies ;  and  we  may  well  ask*  what  great 
human  undertaking  was  ever  exempt  from  difficulties  ?  Are 
Aa  2 


291  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

Great  things  usually  accomplished  slowly. 

we  referred  to  Liberia's  bills  of  mortality  ?  A  large  portion 
of  the  deaths  are  attributable  to  rash  exposure,  and  other  im- 
prudencies,  under  the  action  of  an  untried  sun,  and  subject 
to  the  action  of  a  strange  climate.  Another  cause  is  proba 
bly  to  be  found  in  the  destitute  condition  of  some  of  the  co 
lonists,  who  having  been  just  released  from  bondage,  had 
neither  the  foresight  nor  the  means  requisite  for  a  suitable 
outfit,  leaving  them  in  a  situation  of  exposure  which  I  am 
sure  the  experience  and  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  the 
friends  of  colonization  will  guard  against  in  future.*  Still 
the  colony  can  triumphantly  challenge  a  comparison  with 
the  bills  of  mortality  of  other  colonies,  in  their  early  history  on 
any  continent.  Where  were  the  first  settlers  of  Jamestown 
e'er  the  four  seasons  had  rolled  by  ?  In  their  graves.  Where 
were  a  majority  of  those  who  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock, 
before  the  rigours  of  the  first  winter  were  past  ?  They  were 
numbered  with  the  dead.  True,  they  were  a  sacrifice  to 
public  good.  So  the  event  is  now  regarded  by  their  pos 
terity  and  the  world ;  and  so  the  lesser  trials  which  Liberia 
has  encountered  will  be  viewed  when  the  page  of  history 
shall  bear  a  fair  record  of  the  past  and  the  present,  and  of  a 
few  years  to  come.' 


*It  is  to  be  hoped  that  those  whose  generous  feeling  leads  them  to  libe 
rate  their  slaves  for  the  purpose  of  their  voluntary  settlement  in  Africa,  will 
avail  themselves  of  the  experience  which  is  had  in  relation  to  this  subject, 
and  see  that  those  whom  they  manumit  for  emigration  are  provided  with  all 
suitable  apparel  and  other  necessaries  and  comforts.  A  mattress  and  bed 
clothes,  and  a  full  supply  of  cotton  and  woollen  clothing,  are  indispensable. 
The  author  is  happy  to  find  that  the  ladies,  who,  their  benevolent  hearts  al 
ways  prompting  them  to  kind  actions,  are  generally  found  efficient  support 
ers  of  the  cause  of  colonization  where  its  claims  are  understood,  have  in 
many  instances  rendered  very  great  assistance  in  the  preparation  and  gra 
tuitous  offering  of  bedding  and  garments  for  the  destitute  among  the  emi 
grating  colonists.  May  this  good  work  of  charity  be  continued,  and  the 
number  who  shall  lend  a  helping  hand  be  greatly  increased ! 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  295 

Room  enough  in  Africa^.      /*V  . 

Caroline  said,  '  I  do  not  think  that  it  can  be  reasonably 
objected  to  colonization  that  its  success  has  been  slow,  for 
two  reasons ;  one  is,  as  appears,  that  such  is  not  the  fact ; 
but,  if  it  were,  another  reason  is,  that  the  same  objection 
would  be  against  every  good  cause — even  against  the  Chris 
tian  religion.' 

'  True,  Caroline,'  Mr.  L.  replied,  *  notwithstanding  the 
toils  of  its  friends  for  near  two  thousand  years,  and  the  blood 
of  its  many  martyrs  shed  in  the  cause,  even  the  knowledge 
of  our  holy  religion  is  confined  to  a  comparatively  small 
part  of  the  human  family.' 

'Another  objection,'  said  Henry,  'which  /have  heard,  is 
that,  if  all  the  blacks  would  go  to  Africa,  they  would  not  find 
room  there  for  so  many.' 

'  This  objection,  I  am  sure,'  said  his  father,  '  can  never  be 
seriously  urged,  unless  through  extreme  ignorance.  What 
are  two  millions  and  a  half  of  people  to  the  vast  exent  of 
the  African  continent,  stretching  4,800  miles  from  North  to 
South,  and  4000  miles  from  East  to  West  ?  They  would 
not  be  more  than  would  be  needed  to  help  civilize  and  chris 
tianize  the  benighted  natives,  and  establish  among  them  arts, 
and  commerce,  and  agriculture,  and  the  like.  Africa,  when 
we  consider  its  extent,  its  variety  of  soil,  and  capability  of 
sustaining  an  immense  population,  is  thinly  peopled.  Colo 
nization,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  not  necessarily  confined 
to  Liberia  and  its  vicinity. 

'  It  is  a  lamentable  reflection,'  said  Mr.  L.,  '  that,  charity 
leads  us  to  think,  for  the  want  of  a  faithful  examination  of 
the  subject  the  most  serious  obstacles  which  the  cause  has 
met  in  its  progress,  have  been  the  untenable  and  oft-refuted 


296  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

All  opposition  is  wrong. 

objections,  bitter  opposition  and  severe  denunciations  of  pro 
fessed  friends  of  Africa  in  our  own  country.  It  grieves  me 
that  it  should  be  so,  since  among  them  are  some  whom  I 
greatly  esteem,  notwithstanding  this  their  very  great  error.' 

*I  do  not  see,  Pa,  how  any  who  understand  this  subject, 
(and  all  ought  to  understand  it,)  can  oppose.  If  the  Coloni 
zation  Society  cannot,  in  their  labours  of  benevolence,  do  all 
that  is  needful  to  be  done,  and  as  soon  as  is  desirable,  yet 
why  should  good  men  object  to  their  attempting  all  that  is 
really  practicable,  and  that  would  be,  if  accomplished,  really 
useful  r 

1  Professor  SUliman  has  gone  so  far  as  to  remark/  said 
Mr.  L.,  '  that  all  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  Afri 
can  improvement  to  discountenance  and  oppose  voluntary 
African  colonization,  are  morally  wrong,  and  can  be  called 
by  no  milder  name  than  systematized  opposition  against  the 
whole  African  cause,  embracing  slaves,  free  coloured  people, 
and  the  native  nations  of  Africa. 

*  Could  the  demands  of  many  be  realized,  and  the  colour 
ed  race  be  made  free  in  this  country,  however  well  they  may 
intend,  I  am  sure  they  would  at  once  and  continually  have 
cause  to  mourn  over  those  who  are  now  slaves,  and  in  their 
labours  of  love  would  find  ample  employment  in  visits  of 
mercy  to  our  jails  and  penitentiaries,  and  to  the  haunts  of  vice, 
and  abodes  of  poverty.  They  would  find  the  country  in 
volved  in  great  ruin  ;  the  coloured  people  in  great  wre  tch  ed 
ness,  and  their  very  success  would  be  their  own  defeat,  so  far 
as  benevolent  interest  is  concerned.  But  their  wishes,  I  am 
morally  certain,  cannot  be  realized,  even  though  rivers  of  blood 
should  be  shed  ;  and  the  longer  the  duration  and  the  greater 
the  fierceness  of  their  opposition,  the  longer  do  they  perpetuate 


CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY.  297 

Shall  not  Africa  be  christianized  ? 

the  evils  of  slavery  in  our  land,  and  the  stronger  do  they 
rivet  the  chains  of  the  slave,  and  the  heavier  the  calamity 
which  they  bring  both  on  the  bond  and  the  free,  especially 
the  slave  and  the  free  blacks. 

*  And  then,  let  them  say,  shall  not  Africa  be  civilized  and 
converted  to  God ! 


"  While  on  the  distant  Hindoo  shore 
Messiah's  cross  is  reared, 

While  Pagan  votaries  bow  no  more 
With  idol  blood  besmeared — 


While  Palestine  again  doth  hear 
The  gospel's  joyful  sound, 

While  Islam's  crescents  disappear 
From  Calvary's  holy  ground — 

Say,  shall  not  A  Trie's  fated  land 
With  news  of  grace  be  blest  ? 

Say,  shall  not  ./Ethiopia's  band 
Enjoy  the  promis'd  rest?" 


4  They  who  have  considered  colonization  in  its  influence 
on  our  own  country  only  and  on  the  blacks  that  are  in  it, 
have  taken  a  very  inadequate  view  of  its  amazing  interest 
and  unbounded  extent.  If  the  plan  fail,  or  be  hindered  by 
opposition,  they  who  oppose  this  great  and  good  work,  I  do 
believe  will  have  a  tremendous  account  to  give.' 

1 1  do  not  see,  Pa,  that  the  Colonization  Society  and  the 
Abolition  or  Anti-slavery  Society,  are  communities  of  ne 
cessarily  conflicting  interests.1 

1  They  are  not,  and  there  should  be  no  controversy  be 
tween  them.  "  The  cause  of  emancipation  will  advance  as 


298  CONVERSATIONS  ON   SLAVERY. 

Colonization  and  Abolitionism  should  move  in  peace  each  under  its  banner. 

fast  as  means  of  emigration  and  of  comfortable  settlement  in 
Africa  or  in  other  lands  are  provided.  Cut  off  this  hope, 
and  remove  this  security,  and  the  slave-holding  States  will 
refuse  to  add  to  the  mass  of  free  people  of  colour,  already, 
in  their  view,  too  numerous  for  safety."  They  will  resolve 
on  making  more  strong  their  chains,  hopeless  of  relief,  to 
guard  against  a  greater  calamity  than  appears  to  them  even 
slavery  itself;  and  "linked  in  full  military  preparation  and 
in  wakeful  vigilance,"  they  will  await  the  issue.  "In  the 
meantime,  the  slightest  appearance  or  even  suspicion  of  re 
volt  will  be  visited  by  prompt  and  sanguinary  retribution." 
Thus,  "  anxiety  will  shroud  the  domestic  circle  of  the  slave 
holder  in  gloom,  and  despair  will  settle  upon  the  dark  mind 
of  the  slave" — until  perhaps  some  awful  explosion  shall 
come  ! 

'  There  is  one  objection  to  the  American  Colonization  So 
ciety  which,  it  appears  to  me,  may  with  equal  propriety  be 
urged  against  the  benevolent  institutions  of  the  day  gene 
rally,  and  the  unreasonableness  of  which  is  too  apparent  to 
justify  any  misapprehension  of  the  force  of  the  objection, 
or  to  permit  its  further  use ;  that  is,  that  the  Colonization 
Society  does  not  itself  engage  in  the  work  of  emancipation, 
urging  the  duty  of  immediate  abolition.  This  truly  is  to 
object  that  one  great  and  good  institution,  which,  with  great 
sacrifice,  zeal,  perseverance,  and  success,  pursues  a  great 
and  worthy  object,  is  not  another  institution,  aye,  quite 
another  thing,  which  it  never  professed  to  be.  Why  may 
not  the  same  be  objected  to  all  Missionary  Associations, 
Education  Societies,  Bible  Societies,  Tract  Societies,  &c. 
that  their  professed  object  and  direct  aim  is  not  abolition? 
They  are  formed  for  the  accomplishment  of  great  and  good 
objects  ;  but  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  an  interference  in 
the  domestic  relations  which  they  find  existing  in  our  coun- 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  299 

All  good  associations  have  not  the  same  object. 

try.  They  would  send  the  gospel  to  all,  without  distinction 
of  colour,  that  are  perishing  for  lack  of  vision — they  would 
assist  in  raising  up  and  qualifying  the  pious  and  self-denying 
to  preach  the  everlasting  gospel  to  a  world  that  lieth  in  wick 
edness — they  would  put  into  the  hands  of  every  son  and 
daughter  of  Adam  the  word  of  life — they  would  scatter 
abroad  by  every  proper  means  that  light  which  may  guide 
in  the  paths  of  peace  and  lead  to  holiness,  happiness,  and 
heaven;  but  they  have  each  their  distinct  object  in  view, 
whilst  they  are  but  several  parts  of  one  great  system  of  chris> 
tian  benevolence.  The  American  Colonization  Society 
aims,  as  one  branch  of  the  great  system  of  that  benevolence 
which  the  Spirit  of  God  has  awakened  in  Christendom,  to 
open  an  asylum  for  the  oppressed  in  our  land,  encouraging 
voluntary  emancipation,  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  slave-trade 
and  the  oppression  of  Africa  by  planting  Christian  colonies 
upon  her  shores.  Is  not  the  object  great  and  good  ?  Is  it 
reasonable  to  oppose  a  good  object  because,  forsooth,  it  is 
not  another  good  object  ?  Why  should  so  much  opposition 
centre  upon  colonization  ? 

1  Those  who  constitute  the  Anti-slavery  and  Colonization 
Societies,  I  may  confidently  say,  without  at  all  approving  of 
all  the  principles  of  the  former,  much  less  of  all  their  lan 
guage  and  measures,  are  agreed  for  the  most  part,  in  their 
views  of  slavery  as  a  great  evil,  and  in  respect  to  the  de 
sirableness  of  its  termination  ;  and  disagree  in  respect  to 
the  best  and  proper  and  most  effectual  means  by  which, 
under  all  the  circumstances,  its  extinction  shall  be  consum 
mated.  With  an  honest  difference  of  opinion  on  this  sub 
ject,  surely  each  may  move  under  its  own  banner  without 
molestation  of  the  other,  each  in  its  own  sphere,  at  its  own 
proper  work :  in  the  use  of  all  proper  means,  and  ultimately, 
indulging  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  love,  and  pursuing 


300  CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

If  colonization  fail,  high  hopes  will  be  blasted. 

lawful  and  honourable  measures,  they  may  join  together  in 
the  celebration  of  a  glorious  triumph.' 

1 1  trust,  Pa,'  said  C.,  '  that  bright  days  are  yet  before  us, 
and  that  great  and  happy  results  will  crown  the  efforts  of 
the  true  friends  of  Africa.  I  certainly  do  not  see  how  any 
can  oppose  the  colonization  cause,  nor  yet,  indeed,  how 
they  can  refuse  to  sustain  its  efforts.' 

*  Should  the  cause  of  colonization  fail,'  said  Mr.  L., 
*  those  efforts  which  have  hitherto  been  crowned  with  such 
signal  success  being  discouraged,  or  through  opposition  ren 
dered  fruitless,  I  am  sure  that  the  fond  hopes  of  many  a 
patriot — the  devout  prayers  of  many  a  Christian — the  awak 
ened  sensibilities  of  many  a  master — and  the  delighted 
visions  of  many  a  slave — will  be  most  sadly  disappointed. 

1  Suppose,  for  a  moment,  this  to  be  : — the  American  Co 
lonization  Society  has  opened  an  asylum  for  the  oppressed 
— she  points  to  a  luxuriant  soil,  to  a  genial  climate — with 
gratitude,  she  tells  how  God  has  turned  the  hearts  of  the 
heathen  towards  the  colony — thousands  press  upon  her  anx 
ious  to  depart  to  the  land  of  their  fathers — masters  are 
ready  to  permit  thousands  more  to  swell  their  numbers — 
and  she  calls  to  us  to  help  Africa,  to  help  America.  The 
voice  of  opposition,  and  bitter  reproach  is  heard !  Some 
fold  their  arms  with  listless  unconcern — others  are  disheart 
ened  and  cease  from  their  wonted  benevolence — and  the 
opposition  triumphs  !  That  wisdom  and  philanthropy  which 
have  been  successfully  exerted  in  devising  the  plan  which 
has  caused  this  hitherto  soul-cheering  progress  in  the  cause 
of  liberty,  humanity,  and  religion,  and  in  unfolding  the  re 
sources  for  its  final  accomplishment,  has  all  been  in  vain  ! 
That  territory,  so  extensive,  so  salubrious,  so  fertile,  must 


CONVERSATIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  301 

It  will  prosper — the  cause  is  of  God. 

be  yielded  again  to  savage  beasts  of  prey — those  flourishing 
towns,  fair  villages,  peaceful  habitations,  must  be  no  longer 
tenanted  by  a  happy  new-born  race  of  freemen — those  farms 
must  be  laid  waste — that  commerce  must  close — those 
lights  of  religion  and  science,  churches  and  schools,  must 
be  extinguished — those  banners  of  freedom,  and  those  im 
pregnable  fortresses  over  which  they  wave,  and  that  free 
republican  government  and  the  press  which  vindicates  the 
righteous  cause,  must  cease — those  nearly  5,000  souls 
charmed  with  a  Pisgah  view  of  promised  blessings  of 
learning,  freedom,  and  religion,  must  be  exiled  from  their 
schools,  their  temples  of  justice,  their  churches  dedicated  to 
God,  and  from  all  they  now  hold  dear — and  Afric's  dreary 
coast  must  again  reverberate  the  deafening  yell  of  despair 
wrung  from  many  an  agonized  heart !  Would  this  be  a 
blessing  ?  or,  say,  would  it  be  an  awful  CALAMITY  ?  A  cala 
mity  ?  Why,  but  because  the  Colonization  Society,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  has  effected  this  GREAT  GOOD  ? 

'  And  now,  'may  this  Society,  which  has  been  enabled  to 
do  so  much,  and  whose  prospects  are  so  cheering,  be  per 
mitted  to  go  on  with  more  than  arithmetical  progression  in 
its  work  of  mercy  ?  It  will,  I  am  confident,  never  cause  to 
humanity  a  tear ;  it  may,  and  I  doubt  not,  will,  give  joy  and 
happiness  to  millions  !  Shall  it  not  live  ? — shall  it  not  be 
permitted  to  prosper  ?  It  is  preparing  the  way  for  the  final 
REDEMPTION  of  Africa,  and  for  the  universal  sway  of  THE 
KINGDOM  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  !  Who  will  presume  to  stay 
its  progress  ?  To  detract  from  its  holy  influence  is  TREA 
SON  TO  OUR  COUNTRY MOST  UNMERCIFUL  TO  AFRICA SACRI 
LEGE  IN  THE  VIEW  OF  HEAVEN  !  But  to  aid  this  cause,  is 

HIGH  HONOUR A  MOST  DISTINGUISHED  PRIVILEGE  !' 


Bb 


APPENDIX. 


EARLY  AND   DISTINGUISHED   FRIENDS   OF 
COLONIZATION. 


IN  the  progress  of  the  foregoing  Conversations,  particular 
reference  has  been  made  to  several  of  the  earliest  and  dis 
tinguished  friends  of  African  colonization:  the  author  is 
fully  sensible  that  in  an  attempt  to  do  justice  to  some,  he 
may  by  omission  seem  to  do  injustice  to  others, 

"  Qui  tantum  inter  caput  extulit  omnes, 

Quantum  lenta  solent,  inter  viburna  cypressi." 

He  cannot,  however,  refrain  from  a  passing  tribute,  before 
these  sheets  pass  from  the  press,  as  an  acknowledgment  of 
the  valuable  services  of  a  few  others,  (de  Viris  Illustribus,) 
among  the  noble  friends  of  Africa,  whose  work  is  done  on 
earth,  but  who  have  left  a  memorial  behind  them,  and  who 
"shall  be  in  everlasting  remembrance."  And  first  may  be 
mentioned,  with  propriety,  more  particularly  than  has  been 
done  before, 

THE  REV.  ROBERT  FINLEY. 

To  Mr.  Finley,  at  that  time  resident  at  Basking  Ridge, 
New-Jersey,   is  conceded  by  all,  a  great  share  in  the  ho- 


304  APPENDIX. 

nour  of  originating  the  American  Colonization  Society.  For 
years,  this  eminent  Christian  had  viewed  the  condition  of  the 
free  coloured  population  of  our  country  with  sympathizing 
interest,  and  **  the  whole  vigour  of  his  intellect  was  aroused, 
to  form  plans  for  their  relief."  Among  "  the  exiled  children 
of  Africa,  this  good  man  saw  not  merely  the  heirs  to  a  tem 
poral,  but  to  an  eternal  existence  ;  not  those  possessing 
merely  the  virtues  of  natural  and  social  affection,  but  also 
capacities  for  the  high  improvements  and  joys  of  an  im 
mortal  state."  Early  in  the  year  1815,  he  expressed  him 
self  to  a  friend  as  follows :  "  The  longer  I  live  to  see  the 
wretchedness  of  men,  the  more  I  admire  the  virtue  of  those 
who  devise,  and  with  patience  labour  to  execute  plans  for 
the  relief  of  the  wretched.  On  this  subject,  the  state  of  the 
free  blacks,  has  very  much  occupied  my  mind.  Their 
number  increases  greatly,  and  their  wretchedness,  as  appears 
to  me.  Every  thing  connected  with  their  condition,  includ 
ing  their  colour,  is  against  them ;  nor  is  there  much  pros 
pect  that  their  state  can  ever  be  greatly  meliorated,  while 
they  shall  continue  among  us.  Could  not  the  rich  and  be 
nevolent  devise  means  to  form  a  colony  on  some  part  of  the 
coast  of  Africa,  similar  to  the  one  at  Sierra  Leone,  which 
might  gradually  induce  many  free  blacks  to  go  and  settle, 
devising  for  them  the  means  of  getting  there,  and  of  pro 
tection  and  support  till  they  are  established  ?  Could  they 
be  sent  back  to  Africa,  a  three-fold  benefit  would  arise.  We 
should  be  cleared  of  them  ;  we  should  send  to  Africa  a  po 
pulation  partly  civilized  and  christianized  for  their  benefit ; 
and  our  blacks  themselves  would  be  put  in  a  better  situation. 
Think  much  upon  this  subject,  and  then  please  to  write  me 
when  you  have  leisure." 

Mr.  Finley  was  satisfied  of  the  practicability  and  utility 
of  the  project,  and  encouraged  by  the  opinions  of  others, 
"  resolved  to  make  a  great  effort  to  carry  his  benevolent 


APPENDIX.  305 

views  into  effect.  *  *  In  making  preparatory  arrange 
ments,  he  spent  a  considerable  part  of  the  fall  of  1816," 
and,  "  determined  to  test  the  popularity,  and  in  some  mea 
sure  the  practicability  of  the  whole  system,"  he  at  length 
introduced  the  subject  to  public  notice  in  the  city  of  Wash 
ington.  For  this  purpose,  he  visited  several  members  of 
Congress,  the  President,  the  heads  of  Department,  and 
others.  His  conversation  and  zeal  is  said  to  have  done 
much  in  arresting  attention  to  the  subject,  and  conciliating 
many  who  at  first  appeared  opposed.  He  proposed  a  spe 
cial  season  of  prayer  in  reference  to  the  object,  and  several 
pious  persons  met  him  for  the  purpose  of  spending  an  hour 
in  such  an  exercise.  When  told  that  some  were  incredu 
lous,  and  that  some  ridiculed  the  plan  proposed,  he  replied, 
*'  I  know  this  scheme  is  from  GOD." 

Having  disinterestedly  and  perseveringly  prosecuted  the 
great  object  of  his  desire,  and  performed  a  conspicuous  part 
in  the  organization  of  the  Society,  he  was  soon  called  from 
his  Christian  labours  on  earth,  to  his  reward  in  heaven.  His 
name  stood  enrolled  among  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the  institu 
tion — but  his  work  was  done ;  and  upon  the  foundation 
which  he  laid,  others  were  called  by  the  providence  of  God 
to  build. 


JAMES  MADISON, 

the  profound  statesman,  the  accomplished  scholar,  the  hum 
ble  Christian,  who  filled  with  so  much  honour  the  highest 
executive  department  of  the  nation,  was  the  early  friend  of 
the  Society,  for  many  years  one  of  its  Vice-Presidents,  its 
President  at  the  time  of  his  lamented  death,  and  besides  ap 
proving  its  plans  and  lending  to  it  the  influence  of  his  name, 
contributed  largely  to  its  funds,  and  remembered  it  also  in 


306  APPENDIX. 

his  last  will  and  testament,  leaving  to  assist  in  its  operations 
when  he  should  be  no  more,  the  sum  of  $4,000 — even  more 
valuable,  it  is  hoped,  in  its  moral  effect,  than  because  of  the 
pecuniary  amount. 


JEFFERSON,  MONROE,  AND  CARROLL 

may  also  be  mentioned  as  among  the  zealous  advocates  of 
colonization,  the  last  of  whom  was  elected  President  of  the 
Society  upon  the  demise  of  Judge  Washington. 


THE  HON.  BUSHROD  WASHINGTON, 

the  talents  and  virtues  of  whom  are  well  known  to  have 
been  of  an  exalted  character,  and  who  having  practised  with 
reputation  and  success  in  the  profession  of  which  he  was  so 
bright  an  ornament,  was  appointed  by  the  first  President 
Adams,  in  1797,  as  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States — the  highest  judicial  tribunal  of  our  country, 
was  also  the  Society's  early  friend.  Of  this  Society,  he  be 
came  the  President  at  its  origin,  and  ever  felt  much  interest 
in  its  success.  He  gave  much  of  his  time  and  thoughts  to 
the  advancement  of  its  designs,  and  was  liberal  in  his  dona 
tions.  His  views  of  the  Society  and  its  operations,  are  ex 
hibited  in  an  impressive  manner,  in  an  address  which  he 
delivered  at  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Society.  The 
following  is  an  extract : — 

"  In  the  magnificent  plans  now  carrying  on  for  the  im 
provement  and  happiness  of  mankind,  in  many  parts  of  the 
world,  we  cannot  but  discern  the  interposition  of  that  Al- 


APPENDIX.  307 

mighty  power,  who  alone  could  inspire  and  crown  with  suc 
cess  these  great  purposes.  But  amongst  them  all,  there  is 
perhaps  none  upon  which  we  may  more  confidently  implore 
the  blessing  of  heaven,  than  that  in  which  we  are  now  asso 
ciated.  Whether  we  consider  the  grandeur  of  the  object 
and  the  wide  sphere  of  philanthropy  which  it  embraces  ;  or 
whether  we  view  the  present  state  of  its  progress  under  the 
auspices  of  this  Society,  and  under  the  obstacles  which 
might  have  been  expected  from  the  cupidity  of  many,  we 
may  discover  in  each  a  certain  pledge  that  the  same  benig 
nant  hand  which  has  made  these  preparatory  arrangements, 
will  crown  our  efforts  with  success.  Having,  therefore, 
these  motives  of  piety  to  consecrate  and  strengthen  the  pow 
erful  considerations  which  a  wise  policy  suggests,  we  may, 
I  trust,  confidently  rely  upon  the  liberal  exertions  of  the 
public  for  the  necessary  means  of  effecting  this  highly  in 
teresting  object." 

Nor  was  this  excellent  man  at  all  discouraged  by  the  ob 
stacles  which  it  was  necessary  to  encounter  in  the  further 
prosecution  of  this  good  enterprise,  or  by  the  prospect  of 
the  greatness  of  the  work  which  he  saw  was  to  be  done. 
In  a  subsequent  address,  he  says, 

"  If  much  yet  remains  to  be  done,  we  may  nevertheless 
look  back  with  satisfaction  upon  the  work  which  has  been 
accomplished ;  and  may,  I  trust,  without  presumption,  in 
dulge  the  hope  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when,  by 
means  of  those  for  whose  happiness  we  are  labouring,  Af 
rica  will  participate  in  the  inestimable  blessings  which  result 
from  civilization,  a  knowledge  of  the  arts,  and,  above  all, 
of  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion." 


308  APPENDIX. 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL 

also  was  a  distinguished  friend  of  colonization.  The  Colo 
nization  Herald  has  said,  on  noticing  his  lamented  death, 
"  It  is  not  of  the  statesman  or  the  judge  that  we  would  speak. 
Our  humble  tribute  is  paid  to  the  early  and  steadfast  friend 
of  African  Colonization,  the  oldest  Vice-President  of  the 
American  Colonization  Society,  and  the  patron  of  our  own. 
Surrounded  from  his  birth  by  a  slave  population,  he  knew 
its  evils,  and  as  a  patriot,  a  philanthropist,  and  a  Christian, 
was  sincerely  desirous  of  doing  all  in  his  power  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  his  country,  and  render  justice  to  the  oppress 
ed  slave.  His  clear  mind  saw  the  difficulties  of  the  subject, 
and  the  necessity  of  removing  by  degrees  an  evil  which  had 
grown  too  mighty  to  be  forcibly  overthrown  without  spread 
ing  devastation  through  the  land.  He  saw  that  the  sudden 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States,  was  mo 
rally  impracticable,  not  only  by  the  municipal  law  which  for 
bid  it,  but  by  the  still  stronger  law  of  nature,  which  declared 
it  cruel  and  unjust,  both  to  the  masters  and  the  slaves,  to 
cast  them  forth  unprotected  and  unprepared  for  their  new 
condition.  In  the  plan  of  colonization  he  saw  the  means  of 
opening  a  door  by  which  the  oppressed  may  go  free,  with 
the  prospect  of  attaining  comfort  and  happiness,  and  vindicating 
their  equal  participation  in  the  dignity  of  manhood.  He  was 
therefore  among  the  earliest  promoters  of  the  American  Colo 
nization  Society,  and  to  his  latest  breath  continued  its  stead 
fast  friend.  He  generally  attended  the  annual  meetings  of 
the  society;  and  as  the  oldest  Vice-President,  frequently 
presided.  He  was  a  liberal  contributor  to  its  funds,  and  al 
ways  manifested  a  lively  interest  in  its  welfare.  One  of  the 
latest  acts  of  his  life  was  to  contribute  largely  toward  fitting 
out  an  expedition  with  colonists  from  Norfolk ;  and  even  in 
his  last  illness,  though  forbidden  by  his  physicians  to  speak 


APPENDIX.  309 

much,  he  showed  an  unabated  zeal  in  the  cause.  We 
mourn  his  loss.  But  we  may  still  appeal  with  confidence 
and  satisfaction  to  his  example,  and  when  the  enemies  of  co 
lonization  attempt  to  brand  our  society  with  ignominy,  and 
charge  its  friends  with  hypocrisy,  and  cruelty,  and  oppres 
sion,  we  may  with  honest  pride  repel  the  charge,  and  say  it 
is  the  cause  which  won  the  approbation  and  secured  the 
prayers  and  the  services  of  JOHN  MARSHALL." 


It  is  suggested  by  another  that  "  in  forming  an  opinion 
upon  a  subject  of  such  vast  importance  to  the  best  interests 
of  our  country — aye,  to  the  very  existence  of  the  Union,  as 
the  Negro  question,  it  is  well  to  look  at  the  array  of  the 
great  and  the  good,  who  have  not  only  given  the  weight  of 
their  names,  but  have  hallowed  with  their  latest  blessing  the 
great  cause  they  never  ceased  to  love.  The  conscript  fathers 
of  the  revolution,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  their  country's 
greatness,  who  endured  all  the  perils  of  the  times  that  tried 
men's  souls,  and  who  showed  that  they  knew  how  to  appre 
ciate  the  value  of  our  happy  union  by  mutual  concession  and 
a  spirit  of  conciliation  without  which  the  blessings  sought 
could  not  be  secured  to  their  posterity — these,  almost  to  a 
man,  were  ardent  colonizationists." 


In  this  connexion  it  is  highly  proper  to  mention  also  and 
record  the  name  of  that  venerable  man,  so  recently  taken 
from  us,  and  who,  for  many  years,  as  one  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
dents  of  the  Colonization  Society,  and  in  various  ways,  con 
tributed  so  much  to  the  advancement  of  the  cause  and  the 
best  interests  of  an  oppressed  race, 


310  APPENDIX. 

THE  RT.  REV.  WILLIAM  WHITE,  D.  D. 

Within  the  short  space  of  about  one  year,  a  mournful 
blank  has  not  only  been  left  in  the  list  of  the  officers  of  the 
Parent  Society,  by  the  translation  of  its  illustrious  President, 
JAMES  MADISON,  and  from  among  its  Vice-Presidents,  the 
late  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  JOHN  MARSHALL, 
and  last,  the  venerable  BISHOP  WHITE, 


-"  nomen  clarum  et  venerabile !" 


but  these  distinguished  names  have  also  been  stricken  by  the 
hand  of  death  from  the  list  of  '  Patrons  of  the  Young  Men's 
Colonization  Society  of  Pennsylvania.'  It  is  not  long  since 
the  lamented  Bishop,  having  braved,  at  the  age  of  fourscore 
and  eight,  the  inclemency  of  a  stormy,  snowy  night,  was 
seen  presiding  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Young  Men's  So 
ciety.* 

In  making  some  mention  of  Bishop  White,  more  extended 
than  in  other  circumstances  would  be  given,  the  author,  it  is 
hoped,  need  offer  no  apology  for  presenting  an  extract  from 
the  close  of  his  discourse  preached  in  Grace  Church,  Phila 
delphia,  on  the  Sunday  next  succeeding  the  Bishop's  death, 
and  on  the  Sunday  after,  with  additional  particulars  respect 
ing  the  Bishop's  last  moments  and  general  history,  to  his 
own  charge  in  St.  David's,  the  general  incidents  and  data 
connected  therewith  having  been  gathered  from  such  sources 
as  were  at  that  moment  within  reach. 

*  You  have  thought,  brethren,  in  the  progress  of  these  re 
marks,  of  that  venerable  Father  in  God,  whose  obsequies  we 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  ROBERT  RALSTON,  ESQ.,  another  Vice-Presi 
dent  of  the  Parent  Society,  and  distinguished  friend  of  Africa,  has  closed 
his  earthly  pilgrimage,  honoured  and  lamented,  in  the  ripeness  of  a  good  old 
age. 


APPENDIX.  311 

have  so  lately  been  called  to  attend,  and  whose  lamented  de 
parture  has  clothed  this  sacred  place  with  the  tokens  of  our 
sorrow,  the  habiliments  of  mourning.* 

*  It  is  not  our  business  as  ministers  of  the  gospel,  to  eulo 
gize  the  dead ;  but  when  one  of  so  well-known  piety,  and 
who  has  filled  for  so  many  years  so  elevated  a  station  in  the 
church  of  God  with  such  truly  apostolic  dignity  and  success, 
falls  asleep  in  Christ,  it  is  the  dictate  both  of  reason  and  re 
ligion,  and  is  due  to  his  revered  memory,  to  the  community, 
to  the  cause  of  religion,  and  to  our  own  souls,  that  so  mourn 
ful  an  event,  and  so  great  and  perfect  an  example  as  his  life 
affords,  should  not  be  passed  by  in  silence.     And  on  this  oc 
casion  it  would  be  doing  violence  to  our  best  feelings,  and 
would  seem  unnatural  and  ungrateful  to  Him  who  raised  up 
and  so  long  continued  his  servant  to  bless  this  American 
Israel,  if  we  were  not  to  give  vent  to  our  emotions  in  some  fee 
ble  expression  of  departed  worth,  as  an  acknowledgment  of 
the  greatness  of  our  loss. 

*  Full  of  years  and  of  honours,  the  venerable  BISHOP  has 
been  gathered  to  his  fathers,  dying  in  peace  and  buried  in  a 
good  old  age,  coming  to  his  grave  like  as  a  shock  of  corn 
cometh  in  his  season!     He  was  the  Patriarch  whom  the 
church  delighted  to  honour,  and  the  loss  will  be  felt  by  the 
church  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land,  and  will 
be  lamented  by  all,  although  the  event  was  long  anticipated. 
No  more  will  that  venerable  form  preside  in  the  assemblies 
of  the  church  ;  no  more  shall  we  listen  to  his  godly  coun 
sels  ;  no  more  receive  his  apostolic  benediction ;  no  more  be 
edified  and  encouraged  by  his  holy  living  example  ! 

*  But,  brethren,  we  may,  and,  I  trust,  will  cherish  the  re 
membrance  of  his  virtues.     Fondly  remembering  his  emi- 

*  These  churches  were  hung  with  drapery  of  mourning  on  the  occasion,  as 
were  the  churches  generally  throughout  the  diocese,  and  probably  in  all  the 
States. 


312  APPENDIX. 

nent  services,  and  contemplating  with  admiration  and  grati 
tude  his  pure  and  apostolic  character  and  piety,  we  may, 
and,  I  trust,  will  follow  the  good  example  he  has  set  us,  in 
which  he  has  bequeathed  to  the  church  a  rich  legacy  indeed. 
We  may  also  cherish  those  principles  which  he  ever  incul 
cated  from  the  word  of  God,  and  maintain  in  their  purity 
and  simplicity  the  holy  institutions  which,  by  the  goodness 
of  God,  he  was  so  eminently  instrumental  in  establishing 
among  us ;  and  enjoying  the  blessings  of  these  principles 
and  institutions  ourselves.,  may  transmit  them  to  our  children 
and  children's  children. 

'And  where,  brethren  and  friends,  let  me  ask,  where 
within  the  wide  range  of  our  acquaintance  or  observation, 
could  I  point  you  to  a  more  illustrious  example  of  scripture 
conformity,  or  to  a  brighter  illustration  of  the  Christian  pil 
grimage  ?  Where  shall  we  look  for  one  who  has  been  more 
uniformly  found  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  and  whose 
whole  course  of  almost  ninety  years,  from  his  birth  to  his 
exit,  has  been  more  unexceptionable  ?  As  a  man  and  as  a 
Christian,  he  was  pre-eminently  without  reproach,  his  unsul 
lied  life  exhibiting  "  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever 
things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever 
things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report."  In  all  the  relations  of  life  re 
spected  and  beloved,  he  was  also  the  warm  friend  of  his 
country,  participating  in  her  early  trials  and  anxieties,  and 
ever  cherishing  a  spirit  of  true  patriotism  and  generous  phi 
lanthropy  ;  but  more  than  all,  he  was  a  faithful  minister  of 
the  Lord  Jesus.  As  a  good  BISHOP,  his  name  is  imperisha 
ble.  It  is  identified  with  the  whole  history  of  the  church  in 
this  western  world,  by  his  agency  in  its  establishment  and 
his  paternal  superintendence  to  the  present  time. 

4  The  thoughts  of  Bishop  White,  it  seems  from  such  means 
of  information  as  have  fallen  under  my  observation,  were 


APPENDIX.  313 

directed  to  the  Christian  ministry  at  the  early  age  of  1 4.  In 
a  letter  not  long  since  addressed  to  a  respected  clergyman  in 
answer  to  inquiries,  he  says,  "  It  may  be  recorded  with 
truth,  but  let  it  be  with  humility,  and  with  sorrow  for  innu 
merable  failures,  and  for  having  fallen  far  short  of  what  was 
due  to  the  advantages  enjoyed,  that  there  is  not  recollected 
any  portion  of  my  life  during  which  I  was  altogether  regard 
less  of  the  obligations  of  religion,  or  neglectful  of  the  duty 
of  prayer."  It  seems,  too,  that  he  attributed  much  to  the 
early  religious  instructions  received  from  his  pious  mother  / 
'  Bishop  White  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  April  4,  1747. 
Having  completed  his  collegiate  education,  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  at  the  age  of  18,  and  then  devoted  several 
years  to  theology,  he  repaired  to  England  in  1770,  and  was 
ordained  deacon  by  Dr.  Young,  the  Bishop  of  Norwich. 
After  an  interval  of  two  years,  he  was  ordained  priest,  by 
the  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Terrick,  who  was  at  that  time 
the  diocesan  of  the  American  colonies ;  and  embarked  for 
Philadelphia,  where  he  was  soon  settled  as  assistant  minis 
ter  of  Christ  Church  and  St.  Peter's,  of  which  he  became 
subsequently  the  Rector,  continuing  in  that  office  to  the  day 
of  his  death.  He  was  also  Chaplain  to  the  first  American 
Congress,  and  sustained  that  relation  to  Congress  for  a  long 
time.  "  At  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war,  when  the 
members  of  our  church  were  comparatively  few  in  number, 
and,  like  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  scattered  and  dismayed, 
his  energy  was  put  forth  to  rally  them  to  action,  and  to  en 
courage  them  to  the  discharge  of  the  important  duties  grow 
ing  out  of  their  new  and  critical  situation."  In  1786,  he 
was  elected  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was 
consecrated  in  1787,  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Archiepiscopal 
palace  at  Lambeth,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as 
sisted  by  the  Archbishop  of  York,  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  and  Bishop  of  Peterborough.  Conspicuous  in  all 

c  c 


314  APPENDIX. 

the  history  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  these  United  States, 
all  the  Bishops  who  have  been  consecrated  in  this  country, 
except  the  first  and  the  last,  Bishops  Provost  and  M'Coskry, 
twenty-six  in  number,  have  been  consecrated  by  him. — 
Sixty-six  years  he  was  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  and 
nearly  half  a  century  the  senior  Bishop  of  the  American 
church. 

*  Long1  spared  to  bless  the  church  and  the  world,  his  ener 
gies  were  wonderfully  continued  to  the  last.     On  the  21st  of 
June,   only  five  or   six  weeks   since,  he  was  present  at  a 
meeting  of  Bishops,  and  his  counsels  on  that  occasion,  are 
represented  as   discovering  great  clearness  and  activity  of 
mind.     To  that  valuable  periodical  of  our  church,  the  "Pro 
testant  Episcopalian,"  he  contributed,  for  the  present  month, 
an  admirable  article  on  the  subject  of  "  the  wandering  of  the 
mind  in  prayer."     On  the  last  Sunday  of  the  last  month, 
he  preached  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  his  text  being,  "  The 
word  of  God  is  quick,  anil  powerful,  and  sharper  than 
any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asun 
der  of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and 
is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart ;" 
and  on  the  first  of  the  present  month,  he  attended  a  funeral, 
and  visited,  in  a  distant  part  of  the  city,  a  sick  member  of 
his  congregation. 

*  A  few  days  before  his  death,  receiving  the  Holy  Sacra 
ment,  he  is  said  to  have  observed  with  emphasis, — "  that  it 
is    an   ordinance  significant  of  all  that    is  most    essential 
in  Christianity,  and  expressed  the  devout  hope  that  he  might 
have  grace  to  receive  it  with  resignation,  and  to  his  spiritual 
profit." 

*  "  It  was  astonishing,"  says  one  of  the  Bishops  who  was 
present,  "  to  see  in  his  great  weakness  of  body,  with  what 
strength  and  fervour  he  engaged  in  the  solemn  service,  and 
how  perfectly    his    attention   and    interest  were  sustained 


APPENDIX.  315 

throughout.  His  manner  was  that  of  deep  and  seraphic 
devotion — following  evidently  through  all  the  prayers,  unit 
ing  distinctly  in  every  sentence  that  was  responsive,  and 
most  especially  in  the  Confession,  and  in  the  Gloria  in  Ex- 
celsis,  sealing  every  portion  of  the  service  with  an  emphatic 
rfmen — and  when  the  consecrated  elements  were  delivered 
to  him,  insisting  earnestly,  until  over-persuaded  by  those 
about  him,  that  he  would  rise  from  the  bed,  which  for  several 
days  he  had  not  left,  to  receive  them,  as  he  was  used  to  do, 
on  his  knees.'* 

'  On  the  evening  succeeding,  the  Bishops  of  New-Jersey 
and  Michigan  being  with  him,  "  as  the  affectionate  interest 
of  the  clergy  led  some  one  of  them  to  be  all  the  time,"*  it 
was  said  to  him  by  Bishop  Doane,  "  I  hope,  Sir,  that  you 
feel  no  inconvenience  from  the  effort  you  made  in  receiving 
the  Holy  Communion  this  afternoon."  "  Not  the  least," 
he  replied,  «« not  the  least,  but  much  comforted."  It  was 
then  said  to  him,  "It  was  a  great  pleasure,  Sir,  to  be  per 
mitted  once  more  to  receive  that  blessed  sacrament,  which 
we  have  so  often  partaken,  with  you."  "  And  a  great  plea 
sure  to  me  to  have  you,"  he  replied.  "  We  feel,  Sir,"  it 
was  then  observed,  "  that  you  are  very  sick,  very  sick  in 
deed."  "  I  can  say  nothing  to  the  contrary  of  that,"  he 
replied.  **  We  thought,  Sir,  that  you  might  have  some 
thing  that  you  would  wish  to  communicate,  some  message 
for  the  church,  to  which  God  has  spared  you  so  long.  We 
should  be  glad  to  receive  any  word  of  counsel  from  you, 
and  to  bear  it  to  our  brethren."  "  I  can  only  say,"  said  the 
venerable  man,  "  that  I  pray  God's  protection  and  blessing, 
that  it  may  continue  to  have  peace  and  prosperity,  after  my 
decease."  "  We  trust,  Sir,  that  you  rely  with  entire  confi- 


*  See  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Doane's  communication  in  the  Missionary, 
from  which  this  account  of  Bishop  White's  closing  hours  is  collected. 


316  APPENDIX. 

dence  on  the  promises  of  that  blessed  gospel  which  you 
have  preached  so  many  years" — "  and,"  he  interrupted, 
"which  has  hitherto  sustained  me."  ''And  you  submit 
yourself,  Sir,  wholly  to  God's  gracious  goodness,  with  a 
single  and  entire  reliance  for  salvation  on  the  merits  of  his 
Son,  through  faith  in  him  ?"  "  O  entirely,  entirely  ;  I  have 
no  other  wish,  no  other  hope  !"  After  a  pause,  the  effort  of 
speaking  being  very  great,  though  he  did  not  allow  that  he 
was  fatigued  by  it,  and  was  evidently  consoled  and  animated 
by  the  conversation,  "  I  should  be  glad,"  he  said,  "  to  ex 
press  my  feelings  to  you,  in  some  of  the  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
but  I  cannot."  "  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  hear  some  of 
them  read."  "I  should."  "Will  you  select  one,  Sir?" 
"  No,  I  leave  it  to  you."  "  But  you  have  some  favourite, 
Sir,  which  you  would  prefer."  The  209th  hymn  was  then 
named  by  him  : — 

"  Thou  art  the  way — to  thee  alone 

From  sin  and  death  we  flee; 
And  he  who  would  the  Father  seek, 

Must  seek  him,  Lord,  by  thee,"  &c. 

He  said,  "that  beautiful  hymn  of  Addison's  has  been  a  fa 
vourite  with  me  all  my  life."  He  was  asked  if  he  meant 
that  which  begins, 

"  When  all  thy  mercies,  O  my  God, 
My  rising  soul  surveys," 

and  he  replying  that  it  was,  the  whole  of  it  was  read.  He 
followed  it  throughout  with  the  motion  of  his  lips,  and  when 
it  was  done,  in  reply  to  the  remark,  "  How  comfortable  it 
must  be  to  you,  Sir,  to  realize  thus  the  protecting  care  of 
God  in  life,  in  death,  and  beyond  the  grave,"  he  said  with 
a  warmth  of  expression  not  usual  with  him,  "  0  it  is  charm 
ing,  it  is  charming !" 


APPENDIX.  317 

'  "  His  last  request,  as  became  a  Christian  believer,'*  says 
Bishop  Doane,  "  was  for  prayer  to  God.  His  last  act,  as 
became  a  Christian  Bishop,  was  the  commendation  of  his 
soul  to  God  in  the  offices  of  his  church." 

*  It  was  apparent  that  a  change  had  taken  place,  and  a  crisis 
was  approaching — but "  when  he  seemed  at  the  lowest  point 
of  physical  exhaustion,  and  his  weeping  family  expected  his 
immediate  dissolution,  he  asked  that  prayers  might  be  offer 
ed.     A  portion  of  the  order  for  the  Visitation  of  the  Sick, 
was  used,  by  the  assistant  minister  of  St.   Peter's,  humbly 
commending  "  the  soul  of  this  thy  servant,  our  dear  Father, 
into  thy  hands,  as  into  the  hands  of  a  faithful  Creator  and 
most  merciful  Saviour."     After  this  service,  the  saintly  suf 
ferer  revived  a  little,  and   continued  to  recognize  his  breth 
ren  and  friends  who  came  about  him,  but  there  was  no  dis 
tinctive  act  subsequent  to  this. 

'On  the  17th  of  June,  which  was  Sunday,  the  "sacred 
day  whose  solemn  services  for  nearly  seventy  years  had 
seldom  failed  to  engage  his  voice  in  the  several  offices  of 
the  Christian  ministry,"  the  day,  on  which  he  had  long  ex 
pressed  the  wish  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  depart,  "  as 
the  hour  of  noon  approached,  when  the  prayers  of  faithful 
thousands  had  but  just  gone  up  to  heaven  in  intercession 
for  him" — his  last  moments  peaceful  and  serene,  as  had  been 
his  whole  life — his  intellect  unimpaired  to  the  last — and  his 
piety  bright  like  the  perfect  d&y, — he  breathed  no  more,  and 
his  spirit  took  its  flight  to  heaven  ! 

*  We  all  have  been  accustomed  to  look  up  to  him  with 
filial   regard — strongly    attached  to    his   person,    reposing 
the  greatest   confidence  in   his  judgment,   and  always   ad 
miring  "  the   sterling  worth  and   primitive   beauty  of  his 
character." 

*  Nor  was  this  feeling  of  profound  respect  and  admiration 
restricted  to  us  of  his  own  communion.    All  who  knew 

cc 2 


318  APPENDIX. 

him,  revered  his  character.  He  has  been  well  described, 
"  the  divine  of  treasured  wisdom,  the  minister  of  pure  cha 
rity  and  dove-like  simplicity,  the  citizen  of  approved  pa 
triotism  and  constant  fidelity,  the  man  of  urbane  manners, 
unruffled  equanimity,  and  unsullied  purity  of  life."  His 
was  pre-eminently  a  case  in  which  "  the  hoary  head  is  a 
crown  of  glory."  Few  persons  have  been  so  much  ho 
noured  in  life,  and  carried  it  so  meekly — so  beloved,  and  de 
served  it  so  well — or  have  been  in  death  so  extensively 
lamented. 

4  He  is  gone,  and  we  shall  see  his  face  no  more  !  A  great 
and  a  good  man  has  fallen  in  Israel !  But  while  we  lament 
the  sad  event,  let  us  be  truly  thankful  to  Almighty  God  that 
he  permitted  us  to  enjoy  the  counsels  and  prayers  and  la 
bours  of  his  servant  so  long,  and  that  in  his  death  we  have 
such  consolation,  and  in  all  his  long  life  such  testimony  in 
favour  of  our  holy  religion  and  so  strong  incentives  to  a  holy 
walk.  Let  us  be  truly  grateful  that  in  the  midst  of  afflic 
tion,  we  are  dealt  with  in  mercy,  and  that  although  we 
mourn  the  loss  of  our  Patriarch,  we  have  so  great  a  bless 
ing  in  his  successor.  Let  our  prayers  also  ascend  to  God, 
with  whom  is  the  residue  of  the  Spirit,  that  the  mantle  of 
our  departed  Elijah  may  fall  upon  our  Elisha,  and  that  a, 
double  portion  of  the  same  spirit  may  be  with  him.  And, 
following  the  good  examples  of  those  who  follow  Christ,  in 
all  virtuous  and  godly  living,  may  we  come  at  last  to  the 
same  unspeakable  joy,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.' 


Another  early  and  distinguished   friend  of  colonization,, 
was 

ELJAS  BOUDINOT  CALDWEIX,  ESQ. 

of  Washington,  first  Secretary  of  the  Society,  present  at 
its  organization,  and  justly  classed  with  Finley,  Mills,  and; 


APPENDIX.  319 

Gen.  Mercer,  as  one  of  the  most  efficient  projectors  and 
promoters  of  the  institution.     His  Christian  principles  and 
works  are  his  best  eulogium.     The  African  Repository  con 
tains  this  notice  of  his  death  and  tribute  to  his  memory  : — 
"  Having  taken  a  very  distinguished  part  in  the  formation 
of  the  Society,  having  carefully  investigated  its  claims,  and 
prepared  himself  for  the  obstacles  which  he  saw  to  be  inevi 
table    in  its   progress,  and  especially  having  committed  the 
cause  to  God,  he  was  not  disconcerted  by  misfortunes,  nor 
discouraged  by  the  calamities  of  its  earliest  history.     He 
recollected  that  the   events  connected  with  the   infancy  of 
almost  all  colonies  are   analogous  to  those  which  have  oc 
curred  in  our  own,  and  that  they  prove  rather  that  experi 
ence  is  requisite  to  success,  than  that  success  is  impossible. 
To  no  individual  in  the  country   was  the  colony  more  in 
debted  for  aid  and  success  during  the  months  of  its  greatest 
peril  and  distress  ;  and  while  his   strength  enabled  him  to 
act,  none  was  more  earnest  in  exertions  for  its  prosperity. 
Often  indeed  did  his  zeal  for  others  render  him  forgetful  of 
himself,  and  his  feeble  frame  feel  the  debilitating  effects  of 
excessive  mental  exertion.     Near  the  conclusion  of  his  life, 
the   ordinary   affairs  of  the   world   appeared   to  lose   their 
power  to  affect  him,  and  his  faith  fixed  itself  upon  the  things 
which  are  unseen  and  eternal.     Perfection  with  God  was 
the  object  of  his   supreme  desire  and  highest  hope.     His 
anticipations  of  immortality,  however,  could   not  diminish 
his  affection  for  the  cause  of  humanity  and  of  God  on  earth. 
A  few  days   before  his  death,  he  addressed  to  a  friend  this 
note, 

4  THE  LORD  HATH  GIVEN  ME  THE  DESIRE   OF  MY  HEART 
RESPECTING  AFRICA.  FAREWELL. 

E.  B.  CALDWELL.' 
Blessed  is  his  memory,  and  great  his  reward." 

The  Board,  desirous  to  perpetuate  in  Africa  the  name  of 


32Q  APPENDIX. 

this  benefactor  of  Liberia,  directed  that  the  name  of  CALD- 
WELL  be  given  to  the  first  settlement  or  town  established  by 
the  colony. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  FITZHUGH,  ESQ. 

of  Virginia,  was  a  warm  and  early  friend  of  the  Liberia  co 
lony,  and  for  several  successive  years  one  of  the  Vice-Presi 
dents  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  the  value  and 
importance  of  which  institution  he  ably  set  forth  in  a  series 
of  essays  under  the  signature  of  Opimus.  Descended  from 
two  of  the  most  ancient  and  respectable  families  of  Virginia, 
and  by  education,  talents,  fortune,  and  character,  peculiarly 
fitted  for  eminent  usefulness,  his  death  was  lamented  as  a 
public  loss ;  and  in  the  general  grief  which  it  occasioned  the 
American  Colonization  Society  was  called  to  bear  a  full 
share. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  Mr.  Fitzhugh  was  employed  in  plans 
for  bettering  the  moral  condition  of  his  slaves,  with  the  hope 
of  preparing  them  for  a  different  sphere  of  action.  His  de 
signs  towards  them  are  sufficiently  indicated  by  his  will,  en 
joining  their  freedom  under  certain  conditions.  He  was  called 
to  fill  an  early,  but  honourable  grave. 

One  who  was  intimately  acquainted  with  him  has  said, 
"  Mr.  Fitzhugh  was  no  ordinary  man.  His  highly  gifted 
and  well-balanced  mind,  improved  and  polished  by  the  best 
education,  by  self-discipline,  and  by  constant  intercourse  with 
cultivated  and  refined  society,  controlled  in  its  operations  by 
sentiments  just,  honourable,  magnanimous,  rendered  him  a 
model  of  the  virtues  most  admired  in  private  and  in  public 
life.  Hundreds,  perhaps  thousands,  who  have  shared  in  the 
hospitalities  of  Ravensworth  will  bear  testimony  to  the  no- 


APPENDIX.  321 

bleness  of  his  disposition,  the  urbanity  of  his  manners,  and 
to  those  attractive  powers  of  conversation  which  drew  around 
him,  as  by  magic,  a  numerous  circle  of  friends,  who  found 
that  to  know  was  to  love  him;  and  that  every  successive  in 
terview  increased  the  strength  of  their  attachment.  As  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  of  the  Senate, 
and  of  the  Convention,  he  filled  the  high  expectation  of  his 
friends,  and  stood  acknowledged  by  all  an  able,  honourable, 
and  eloquent  statesman.  While  the  reputation  of  Virginia 
was  dear  to  his  heart,  while  he  cherished  towards  her  charac 
ter  and  her  interest,  even  a  filial  affection,  he  looked  abroad 
upon  the  Union  with  patriotic  pride,  and  rejoiced  in  the  ho 
nours  and  prospects  of  this  glorious  national  republic.  Nor 
were  his  desires  for  the  improvement  of  mankind  confined 
within  the  limits  of  his  country.  He  was  a  philanthropist ; 
and  felt  that  human  beings,  whatever  may  be  their  country, 
circumstances,  or  complexion,  were  related  to  him  by  the 
ties  of  a  common  nature,  and  must  not  be  excluded  from  his 
regards.  *  *  His  example  survives  him.  And  while  friendship 
and  affection  shed  their  tears  upon  his  grave ;  while  honour, 
genius,  patriotism,  and  philanthropy  gather  around  it  in 
silent  grief,  may  his  example,  like  an  oracle  from  the  abodes 
of  the  departed,  give  confidence  and  energy  to  virtue,  and 
perpetuate  its  influence  to  relieve  the  miseries,  and  to  im 
prove  and  exalt  the  character  of  mankind,1' 


We  must  notice  one  more  who  greatly  served  the  interests 
of  colonization  in  our  own  country, 

THE  HON.  THOMAS  SMITH  GRIMKE, 

of  Charleston,  S.  C.    By  the  death  of  this  distinguished  Chris 
tian,  scholar  and  civilian,  in  1834,  the  Colonization  Society  was 


322  APPENDIX. 

deprived  of  one  of  its  Vice-Presidents  and  efficient  members, 
and  the  cause  of  Africa  of  a  liberal  and  devoted  friend.  It 
has  been  well  said  of  Mr.  Grimke  that  he  was  no  ordinary 
man,  either  in  his  intellectual  or  moral  endowments.  In  the 
legal  profession  pre-eminent,  a  statesman  of  enlarged  views 
and  purity  of  motive,  his  patriotism  a  part  of  his  piety,  al 
ways  aiming  at  the  approbation  of  heaven,  he  was  qualified 
for  distinguished  usefulness.  His  memory  is  blessed — his 
example  lives. 


Nor  should  we  pass  by  unnoticed,  besides  the  sainted 
ASHMUN  and  MILLS,  the  names  of  others  who  left  their  native 
land,  aspiring  to  serve  this  good  cause  more  effectually  in 
Africa,  We  will  mention,  first, 


THE  REV.  LOTT  CAREY. 

Among  the  names  of  those  who  have  devoted  themselves 
to  the  great  work  of  founding  a  colony  in  Liberia,  and  who 
shared  the  cares  and  toils  and  privations  consequent  upon  the 
first  attempt,  stands  conspicuous  that  of  the  Rev.  Lott  Carey, 
for  sometime  the  Vice-agent  of  the  colony.  Mr.  Carey,  as 
appears  by  an  obituary  of  him  in  the  5th  volume  of  the  Re 
pository,  from  which  this  tribute  is  chiefly  quoted,  was  born 
a  slave,  near  Richmond,  Virginia.  He  was  early  hired  out 
as  a  common  labourer  in  that  city,  where,  for  some  years, 
he  remained,  entirely  regardless  of  religion,  and  much  ad 
dicted  to  profane  and  vicious  habits.  Convinced  of  the 
misery  of  a  sinful  state,  and  brought  to  true  repentance  be 
fore  God,  in  1807  he  professed  faith  in  the  Saviour,  and  be 
came  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  His  father  was  a 


APPENDIX.  323 

pious  and  much  respected  member  of  the  same  church,  and 
his  mother  died  giving  evidence  that  she  had  relied  for  salva 
tion  upon  the  Son  of  God.  He  was  their  only  child,  and 
though  he  had  no  early  instruction  from  books,  the  admoni 
tions  and  prayers  of  his  illiterate  parents,  it  is  supposed, 
laid  the  foundation  for  his  future  usefulness. 

"  A  strong  desire  to  be  able  to  read  was  excited  in  his 
mind  by  a  sermon  to  which  he  attended  soon  after  his  con 
version,  and  which  related  to  our  Lord's  interview  with 
Nicodemus ;  and  having  obtained  a  Testament  he  commenced 
reading  his  letters,  by  trying  to  read  the  chapter  in  which 
this  interview  is  recorded.  He  received  some  instruction, 
though  he  never  attended  a  regular  school.  Such,  however, 
was  his  diligence  and  perseverance  that  he  overcame  all  ob 
stacles,  and  acquired  not  only  the  art  of  reading,  but  of  writ 
ing  also.  Shortly  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife  in  1813, 
he  ransomed  himself  and  two  children  for  $850,  a  sum  which 
he  had  obtained  by  his  singular  ability  and  fidelity  in  manag 
ing  the  concerns  of  a  tobacco  warehouse.  Of  the  real  value 
of  his  services  there,  it  has  been  remarked,  no  one  but  a 
dealer  in  tobacco  can  form  an  idea.  Notwithstanding  the 
hundreds  of  hogsheads  that  were  committed  to  his  charge, 
he  could  produce  any  one  the  instant  it  was  called  for ;  and 
the  shipments  were  made  with  promptness  and  correctness, 
such  as  no  person,  white  or  black,  has  equalled  in  the  same 
situation.  It  is  said  that  while  employed  at  the  warehouse, 
he  often  devoted  his  leisure  time  to  reading,  and  that  a  gen 
tleman  on  one  occasion  taking  up  a  book  which  he  had  left 
for  a  few  moments,  found  it  to  be  '  Smith's  Wealth  of  Na 
tions.' 

"  As  early  as  the  year  1815,  he  began  to  feel  a  special  in 
terest  in  the  cause  of  African  Missions,  and  contributed  pro 
bably  more  than  any  other  person  in  giving  origin  and  cha 
racter  to  the  African  Missionary  Society  established  during 


324  APPENDIX. 

that  year  in  Richmond,  and  which,  for  many  years  collected 
and  appropriated  annually  to  the  cause  of  Christianity  in  Af 
rica,  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  His 
benevolence  was  practical ;  and  whenever  and  wherever 
good  objects  were  to  be  effected,  he  was  ready  to  lend  his 
aid.  He  became  a  preacher  several  years  before  he  left  this 
country,  and  generally  engaged  in  this  service  every  Sabbath 
among  the  coloured  people  on  plantations  a  few  miles  from 
Richmond. 

"  A  correspondent,  from  whom  we  have  already  quoted, 
observes,  'In  preaching,  notwithstanding  his  grammatical 
inaccuracies,  he  was  often  truly  eloquent.  He  had  derived 
almost  nothing  from  the  schools,  and  his  manner  was,  of 
course  unpolished,  but  his  ideas  would  sometimes  burst  upon 
you  in  their  native  solemnity,  and  awaken  deeper  feelings 
than  the  most  polished  but  less  original  and  inartificial  dis 
course.'  A  distinguished  minister  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  said  to  the  writer,  '  A  sermon  which  I  heard  from 
Mr.  Carey,  shortly  before  he  sailed  for  Africa,  was  the  best 
extemporaneous  sermon  I  ever  heard.  It  contained  more 
original  and  impressive  thoughts,  some  of  which  are  distinct 
in  my  memory,  and  never  can  be  forgotten.' 

"Mr.  Carey  was  among  the  earliest  emigrants  to  Africa. 
For  some  time  before  his  departure  he  had  sustained  the  office 
of  Pastor  of  a  Baptist  Church  of  coloured  persons  in  Rich 
mond,  embracing  nearly  eight  hundred  members,  received 
from  it  a  liberal  support,  and  enjoyed  its  confidence  and  af- 
feclion.  When  an  intelligent  minister  of  the  same  church 
inquired  why  he  could  determine  to  quit  a  station  of  so  much 
comfort  and  usefulness,  to  encounter  the  dangers  of  an  Afri 
can  climate,  and  hazard  every  thing  to  plant  a  colony  on  a 
distant  heathen  shore?  his  reply  was  to  this  effect,  '  I  am  an 
African,  and  in  this  country,  however  meritorious  my  con 
duct  and  respectable  my  character,  I  cannot  receive  the  credit 


APPENDIX.  325 

due  to  either.  I  wish  to  go  to  a  country  where  I  shall  be 
estimated  by  my  merits,  not  by  my  complexion  ;  and  I  feel 
bound  to  labour  for  my  suffering  race.'  He  seemed  to  have 
imbibed  the  sentiment  of  Paul,  arid  to  have  great  heaviness 
and  continual  sorrow  in  his  heart  for  his  brethren,  his  kins 
men  according  to  the  flesh. 

"  At  the  close  of  his  farewell  sermon  in  the  First  Baptist 
Meeting-house  in  Richmond,  he  remarked  in  substance  as 
follows  : — '  I  am  about  to  leave  you,  and  expect  to  see  your 
faces  no  more.  I  long  to  preach  to  the  poor  Africans  the 
way  of  life  and  salvation.  I  don't  know  what  may  befall 
me,  whether  I  may  find  a  grave  in  the  ocean  or  among  the 
savage  men,  or  more  savage  wild  beasts  on  the  coast  of  Af 
rica ;  nor  am  I  anxious  what  may  become  of,  me.  I  feel  it 
my  duty  to  go  ;  and  I  very  much  fear  that  many  of  those 
who  preach  the  gospel  in  this  country,  will  blush  when  the 
Saviour  calls  them  to  give  an  account  of  their  labours  in  his 
cause,  and  tells  them,  '  I  commanded  you  to  go  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature ;'  (and  with 
the  most  forcible  emphasis  he  exclaimed)  the  Saviour  may 
ask,  Where  have  you  been  ?  what  have  you  been  doing  ?  Have 
you  endeavoured  to  the  utmost  of  your  ability  to  fulfil  the 
commands  I  gave  you,  or  have  you  sought  your  own  gratifi 
cation  and  your  own  ease  regardless  of  my  commands  ?' 

"  On  his  arrival  in  Africa  he  saw  before  him  a  wide  and 
interesting  field,  demanding  various  and  energetic  talents,  and 
the  most  devoted  piety.  His  intellectual  ability,  firmness  of 
purpose,  unbending  integrity,  correct  judgment,  and  disin 
terested  benevolence,  soon  placed  him  in  a  conspicuous  sta 
tion,  and  gave  him  wide  and  commanding  influence.  Though 
naturally  diffident  and  retiring,  his  worth  was  too  evi 
dent  to  allow  of  his  continuing  in  obscurity.  It  is  well 
known  that  great  difficulties  were  encountered  in  founding  a 
settlement  at  Cape  Montserado.  So  appalling  were  the  cir* 

Dd 


326  APPENDIX. 

cumstances  of  the  first  settlers,  that  soon  after  they  had  taken 
possession  of  the  cape  it  was  proposed  that  they  should  re 
move  to  Sierra  Leone.  The  resolution  of  Mr.  Carey  was 
not  to  be  shaken ;  he  determined  to  stay,  and  his  decision 
had  great  effect  in  persuading  others  to  imitate  his  example. 
During  the  war  with  the  native  tribes,  in  November  and  De 
cember,  1822,  he  proved  to  be  one  of  the  bravest  of  men, 
and  lent  his  well-directed  and  vigorous  support  to  the  mea 
sures  of  Mr.  Ashmun  during  that  memorable  defence  of  the  co 
lony.  It  was  to  him  that  Mr.  Ashmun  was  principally  in 
debted  for  assistance  in  rallying  the  broken  forces  of  the 
colony  at  a  moment  when  fifteen  hundred  of  the  exasperated 
natives  were  rushing  on  to  exterminate  the  settlement.  In  one 
of  his  letters  he  compares  the  little  exposed  company  on  Cape 
Montserado  at  that  time,  to  the  Jews,  who,  in  rebuilding 
their  city,  'grasped  a  weapon  in  one  hand,  while  they  la 
boured  with  the  other,'  but  adds  emphatically,  *  there  never 
has  been  an  hour  or  a  minute,  no,  not  even  when  the  balls 
were  flying  around  my  head,  when  I  could  wish  myself  again 
in  America.' 

"At  this  early  period  of  the  colony  the  emigrants  were 
peculiarly  exposed ;  the  want  of  adequate  medical  atten 
tions,  and  the  scantiness  of  their  supplies,  subjected  them 
to  severe  and  complicated  sufferings.  To  relieve,  if  possi 
ble,  these  sufferings,  Mr.  Carey  availed  himself  of  all  in 
formation  in  his  power,  concerning  the  diseases  of  the  cli 
mate,  made  liberal  sacrifices  of  his  property  to  assist  the  poor 
and  distressed,  and  devoted  his  time  almost  exclusively  to 
the  destitute,  the  sick,  and  the  afflicted.  He  appeared  to 
realize  the  greatness  of  the  work  in  which  he  had  engaged, 
and  to  be  animated  by  a  noble  spirit  of  zeal  and  resolution 
in  the  -cause  of  his  afflicted  and  perishing  brethren.  His 
services  as  physician  were  invaluable,  and  were  for  a  long 
time  rendered  without  hope  of  reward. 


APPENDIX.  327 

"  He  was  elected  in  September  1826,  to  the  Vice-agency 
of  the  colony,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  that  important 
office  until  his  death.  In  his  good  sense,  moral  worth,  pub 
lic  spirit,  courage,  resolution,  and  decision,  the  colonial  agent 
had  perfect  confidence.  He  knew  that  in  times  of  difficulty 
or  danger,  reliance  might  be  placed  upon  the  energy  and 
efficiency  of  Mr.  Carey.  When  compelled  in  the  early 
part  of  1828  to  leave  the  colony,  Mr.  Ashmun  committed 
the  administration  of  the  colonial  affairs  into  his  hands. 

"  But  amid  his  multiplied  cares  and  efforts  for  the  colony 
he  never  forgot  or  neglected  to  promote  the  objects  of  the 
African  Missionary  Society,  for  which  he  had  long  cherished 
the  strongest  attachment.  His  great  object  in  emigrating  to 
Africa  was  to  extend  the  power  and  blessings  of  the  chris- 
tian  religion.  Before  his  departure  from  Richmond,  a  little 
church  of  about  half  a  dozen  members  was  formed  by  him 
self  and  those  who  were  to  accompany  him.  He  became 
the  pastor  of  this  church  in  Africa,  and  saw  its  numbers 
greatly  increased.  Most  earnestly  did  he  seek  access  to  the 
native  tribes,  and  endeavour  to  instruct  them  in  the  doctrines 
and  duties  of  that  religion  which  in  his  own  case  had  proved 
so  powerful  to  purify,  exalt,  and  save.  In  one  or  two  in 
stances  of  hopeful  conversion  from  heathenism,  he  greatly 
rejoiced ;  and  many  of  his  latest  and  most  anxious  thoughts 
were  directed  to  the  establishment  of  native  schools  in  the 
interior.  One  such  school,  distant  seventy  miles  from  Mon 
rovia,  and  of  great  promise,  was  established  through  his 
agency  about  a  year  before  his  death,  and  patronized  and  su 
perintended  by  him  until  that  mournful  event.  On  this  sub 
ject,  by  his  many  valuable  communications  to  the  Missionary 
Board,  *  he  being  dead  yet  speaketh'  in  language  which  must 
affect  the  heart  of  every  true  Christian  disciple. 

"  For  six  months  after  the  first  departure  of  Mr.  Ashmun 
from  the  colony,  Mr.  Carey  stood  at  its  head,  and  conducted 


328  APPENDIX. 

himself  with  such  energy  and  wisdom  as  to  do  honour  to  his 
previous  reputation,  and  fix  the  seal  upon  his  enviable  fame. 
On  his  death  bed,  Mr.  Ashmun  urged  that  Mr.  Carey  should 
be  permanently  appointed  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  colo 
ny,  expressing  his  perfect  confidence  in  his  integrity  and 
ability  for  that  great  work. 

"  The  tidings  of  Mr.  Ashmun's  death  had  not  reached  the 
colony  until  after  the  decease  of  Mr.  Carey.  How  unexpected, 
how  interesting,  how  aflecting  the  meeting  of  these  two  in" 
dividuals,  (so  long  united  in  Christian  fellowship,  in  benevo 
lent  and  arduous  labours,)  in  the  world  of  glory  and  immor- 
taility ! 

"  It  has  been  well  said  of  Mr.  Carey,  that  '  he  was  one 
of  nature's  noblemen  ;'  and  had  he  possessed  the  advantages 
of  education,  few  men  of  his  age  would  have  excelled  him  in 
knowledge  or  genius.  The  features  and  complexion  of  Mr. 
Carey  were  altogether  African.  He  was  diffident,  and  show 
ed  no  disposition  to  push  himself  into  notice.  His  words 
were  few,  simple,  direct  and  appropriate.  His  conversation 
indicated  rapidity  and  clearness  of  thought,  and  an  ability  to 
comprehend  the  great  and  variously-related  principles  of  re 
ligion  and  government. 

"  To  found  a  Christian  colony  which  might  prove  a  blessed 
asylum  to  his  degraded  brethren  in  America  and  enlighten  and 
regenerate  Africa,  was,  in  his  view,  an  object  with  which  no 
temporal  good,  not  even  life,  could  be  compared.  The 
strongest  sympathies  of  his  nature  were  excited  in  behalf  of 
his  unfortunate  people,  and  the  divine  promise  cheered  and 
encouraged  him  in  his  labours  for  their  improvement  and  sal 
vation.  A  main  pillar  in  the  society  and  church  of  Liberia, 
the  memorial  of  his  worth  shall  never  perish.  It  shall  stand 
in  clearer  light  when  every  chain  is  broken,  and  Christianity 
shall  have  assumed  her  sway  over  the  millions  of  Africa." 

The  following  lines  "  to  the  memory"  of  Mr.  Carey,  ap- 


APPENDIX.  329 

peared  in  the  African  Repository  soon  after  his  death,  from 
an  anonymous  correspondent,  with  the  signature  of  V. — 

"  Shall  none  record  the  honoured  name 

Of  Afric's  favour'd  son, 
Or  twine  the  deathless  wreath  of  fame 

For  him  whose  race  is  run  ? 
While  angels  crown  the  saint  above, 
Has  earth  no  voice  to  own  her  love  ? 


Where'er  the  Patriot  rests  his  head 

A  stately  pile  appears  ; 
While  warrior's  sleep  on  glory's  bed, 

Beneath  a  nation's  tears  ; 
And  shall  no  tribute  rise  to  thee, 
Thou  fearless  friend  of  liberty  ? 

Yes,  Afric's  sunny  skies  have  gleam'd 

On  many  a  scene  sublime ; 
But  more  than  hope  has  ever  dream'd 

Is  destin'd  for  that  clime. 
The  chain  shall  burst,  the  slave  be  free, 
And  millions  bless  thy  memory. 

Thy  meed  shall  be  a  nation's  love ! 

Thy  praise,  the  freeman's  song ! 
And  in  thy  star-wreath'd  home  above 

Thou  may'st  the  theme  prolong ; 
For  hymns  of  praise  from  Afric's  plains 
Shall  mingle  with  seraphic  strains." 


DR.  RICHARD  RANDALL, 

who  generously  proffered  his  services  in  the  cause  of.  colo 
nization  and  of  Africa,  and  to  whom  was  therefore  entrusted 
the  honourable  and  responsible  station  made  vacant  by  the 


330  APPENDIX. 

decease  of  the  lamented  Ashmun,  was  born  at  Annapolis, 
Md.  ;  received  his  education  at  St.  John's  College,  and  took 
his  degree  as  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  Philadelphia.  From  a 
sphere  of  great  usefulness  in  his  profession  in  Washington 
City,  he  was  called  to  the  Professorship  of  Chemistry  in 
the  Medical  Department  of  Columbia  College.  He  was  also 
an  able  and  efficient  member  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of 
the  Colonization  Society.  But  his  expansive  benevolence 
and  the  warm  interest  which  he  took  in  the  welfare  of  the 
Liberia  colony,  would  not  allow  of  his  enjoying  longer  the 
flattering  prospects  which  were  before  him  in  America.  An 
intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Randall  has  said,  "  The  magnitude  of 
the  object  of  the  Colonization  Society,  the  attained  success, 
the  illimitable  prospects  for  usefulness  which  the  scheme 
displayed,  soon  engaged  the  feelings  of  his  generous  and 
benevolent  mind.  *  *  He  wras  a  generous,  kind,  noble- 
hearted  man."  He  once  thought  unfavourably  of  the  So 
ciety,  the  colony,  and  its  objects ;  but  "  his  mind  was  en 
lightened,"  and  he  resolved  to  devote  his  best  energies  to 
the  glorious  cause.  As  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Mana 
gers  at  Washington,  he  was  discriminating,  judicious,  re 
solute,  and  benevolent,  and  became  so  intimately  acquainted 
with  all  that  relates  to  the  object  of  the  cause,  that  great 
respect  was  due  to  his  decisions.  When  Ashmun  died,  Dr. 
Randall  was  deeply  affected,  fully  sensible  of  the  shock 
which  the  institution  had  sustained.  *•  The  workings  of 
his  generous  mind"  could  not  long  be  concealed.  He  hesi 
tated  ;  but  **  his  hesitation  was  the  result  of  a  diffidence  of 
his  own  powers.  Admonished  of  his  danger,  and  implored 
by  his  friends  to  remain  in  the  flattering  career  which  he 
had  commenced,"  his  reply  was  decided,  that  "  in  doing  his 
duty  he  disregarded  his  life — that  \vith  his  feelings  and  pur 
pose,  he  could  readily  exchange  the  endearing  intercourse  of 
relations,  the  alluring  pleasures  of  refined  society,  the  pro- 


APPENDIX.  331 

mised  success  of  professional  exertion,  for  the  humble  duty 
of  promoting  the  happiness  of  the  poor  Negroes  in  Africa* 
and  be  HAPPY  IN  so  DOING." 


DR.  ANDERSON. 

JOHN  WALLACE  ANDERSON,  M.  D.,  of  Montgomery  coun 
ty,  Md.,  after  an  academic  and  collegiate  education,  entered 
on  a  course  of  study  for  the  medical  profession,  and  gra 
duated  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1823.  Soon 
after  being  settled  as  a  practising  physician,  he  resolved  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  devote  himself  to  the  cause  of  African  co 
lonization,  by  serving,  in  his  professional  character,  among 
the  colonists  of  Liberia.  He  accordingly  left  behind  him 
the  attractions  of  a  delightful  home,  and  with  that  sentiment 
deep  in  his  heart,  which,  when  leaving  this  world,  he  di 
rected  should  be  inscribed  on  his  tombstone,  **  Jesus,  for 
thee  I  live,  for  thee  I  die,"  he  committed  himself  to  the  di 
rection  of  a  wise  and  good  Providence,  and  planted  himself 
on  the  shores  of  Liberia.  Useful  in  his  profession,  and 
distinguished  by  unremitting  efforts  to  promote  the  best 
good  of  the  infant  colony,  he  was  also  called  to  the  agency 
of  the  colony  during  the  absence  of  Dr.  Mechlin.  His  ef 
forts  laid  him  upon  the  bed  of  sickness ;  there,  although  he 
could  no  more  serve  the  colony  as  he  had  been  wont  to  do, 
his  remaining  breath  was  spent  in  fervent  prayer  for  its 
success,  until,  in  a  few  days  from  his  attack,  with  entire 
resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  and  with  unshaken  and  tri 
umphant  confidence  in  the  glorious  Saviour,  he  was  called 
to  pass  the  valley  and  shadow  of  death.  One  who  was 
with  him  when  he  died,  has  remarked,  "  Well  might  I  have 
said,  when  Dr.  Anderson  breathed  his  last,  Come  and  see 


332  APPENDIX. 

how  a  Christian  can  die."  He  is  said  to  have  evidenced  "  a 
remarkable  devotion  to  the  cause  of  God  and  man,"  and  to 
have  been  possessed  of  "  a  spirit  so  mild,  retiring,  disinter 
ested  and  unwavering,  as  at  once  to  win  the  affections  and 
deeply  impress  the  heart"  of  all  who  became  acquainted 
with  him. 


THE  REV.  MELVILLE  B.  Cox 

is  another,  whose  name  will  go  down  to  many  generations 
as  one  of  Africa's  early  and  faithful  friends.  Mr.  Cox  went 
out  to  Liberia  under  the  direction  of  the  Methodist  Mission 
ary  Society,  "  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christianity  in  Li 
beria,  and  among  the  African  tribes  in  its  vicinity."  He  is 
represented  as  a  minister  of  great  sincerity  and  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  Christ,  and  of  distinguished  abilities.  In  reference 
to  his  mission,  he  said  before  his  departure,  "  I  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  worldly  gain  in  any  form.  If  God 
permits  me  to  go,  it  shall  be  to  preach  the  gospel." — 
Devoted  to  this  work  of  piety  and  mercy  himself,  he  was 
greatly  anxious  to  enlist  the  feelings  of  others.  "I  would," 
said  he,  "  that  our  coloured  friends  felt  on  this  subject  as 
they  should.  *  *  When  was  there  ever  such  a  door 
opened  f  *  *  We  cannot  but  feel  on  this  subject.  Af 
rica  calls  us  with  millions  of  voices.  She  pleads  in  the 
strong  waitings  of  suffering  humanity.  She  speaks  in  the 
accents  of  dying  spirits  "  perishing  for  lack  of  knowledge." 
Will  not  her  sons  in  America  hear?  O  that  God  would 
move  their  hearts  to  this  work.  Money  and  means  are  at 
their  command — public  sympathy  is  deeply  enlisted  in  their 
favour.  Will  they  still  refuse  ?  God  pity  them.  And  may 
he  pity  those  who  have  sown  the  seeds  of  such  deep-rooted 
prejudices  against  Liberia  ;  and  may  he  pity  us  who  have 


APPENDIX.  333 

so  long  enslaved  intellect  as  to  have  rendered  it  almost  en 
tirely  insensible  to  moral  and  religious  enterprise."  Some 
friend  of  humanity,  who  also  knew  how  to  appreciate  the 
worth  of  this  excellent  missionary  now  fallen  a  martyr  to 
the  interests  of  Africa,  has  embalmed  his  memory  in  these 
lines,  entitled 

THE    GRAVE    OF    COX. 


"  From  Niger's  dubious  billow, 

From  Gambia's  silver  wave, 
Where  rests,  on  death's  cold  pillow, 

The  tenant  of  the  grave, 
We  hear  a  voice  of  weeping, 

Like  low-toned  lutes  at  night, 
In  plaintive  echoes  sweeping 

Up  Mesurado's  height.. 

The  palm-tree  o'er  him  waving, 

The  grass  above  his  head, 
The  stream  his  clay-couch  laving, 

All — all  proclaim  him  dead  ; 
Dead  !  but  alive  in  glory, 

A  conqueror  at  rest ; 
Embalmed  in  sacred  story  > 

And  crowned  amidst  the  blest. 


A  martyr's  grave  encloses 

His  wearied  frame  at  last, 
Perfum'd  with  heaven's  sweet  roses, 

On  his  dear  bosom  cast  ; 
And  Afric's  sons  deploring 

Their  champion  laid  low, 
Like  many  waters  roaring, 

Unbosom  all  their  wo. 


The  moon's  lone  chain  of  mountain* 
The  plain  where  Carthage  stood, 

Jugurlha's  ancient  fountains, 
And  Teembo's  palmy  wood, 


334  APPENDIX. 

Are  wild  with  notes  of  sorrow, 
Above  their  sainted  friend, 

To  whom  there  comes  no  morrow, 
But  glory  without  end." 


It  is  here  worthy  of  remark  that  those  who  have  gone 
forth  as  pioneers  in  the  noble  cause  of  colonization,  have 
embraced  in  their  number  some  of  the  choicest  spirits  of  the 
age.  The  leaders  in  this  enterprise  of  humanity,  patriotism, 
and  benevolence,  have  not  been  men  of  an  inferior  order  of 
intellect,  nor  mere  visionaries  ;  but  of  first  rate  minds,  of  en 
larged  views,  sound  judgment,  great  discretion,  humble  and 
unwavering  piety,  persevering  zeal,  entire  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  .(*pd  and  the  best  interests  of  man.  If  a  different 
opinion  has  prevailed,  as  it  may,  in  some  instances,  it  must 
be  through  want  of  proper  information,  and  proper  pains  to 
obtain  it.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  they  who  have  been 
most  efficient  in  this  good  work,  have  so  generally  been 
those  possessed  of  pre-eminent  qualifications — men  who 
would  have  shone  bright  and  been  greatly  honoured  remain 
ing  in  their  own  native  land,  but  whose  piety  and  benevo 
lence,  manifest  to  all,  led  them  to  forego  the  flattering  pros 
pects  before  them  here,  that  they  might  serve  God  and  their 
generation  on  the  shores  of  Africa. 

Nor  should  this  remark  be  wholly  confined  to  those  who 
as  agents,  sub-agents,  physicians,  or  ministers  of  the  gospel 
and  missionaries  of  the  cross,  have  gone  forth  in  this  good 
work.  Among  the  colonists  generally,  has  been  an  honour 
able  share  of  all  that  is  ennobling  to  humanity.  As  speci 
mens  of  the  views  and  feelings  and  qualifications  of  many, 
we  may  find  much  that  is  honourable  in  their  own  deeds, 
and  in  the  testimony  of  the  disinterested.  Take,  as  a  spe 
cimen  of  the  noble  spirit  and  good  judgment  of  not  a  few, 


APPENDIX.  335 

the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  a  free  man  of  colour, 
then  belonging  in  Georgia,  who  sought  an  asylum  in  Africa 
in  1831.  It  need  not  be  said  after  reading  the  extract,  that 
he  was  highly  esteemed  for  his  intelligence  and  piety  where 
he  then  lived.  He  writes  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society : 

"  I  have  always  viewed  the  principle  on  which  the  So 
ciety  was  grounded,  as  one  of  much  policy,  though  I  saw  it 
was  aided  by  a  great  deal  of  benevolence.  And  when  view 
ing  my  situation,  with  thousands  of  my  coloured  brethren 
in  the  United  States,  who  are  in  a  similar  situation,  I  have 
often  wondered  what  prevented  us  from  rising  and  with  one 
voice,  saying,  we  will  accept  the  offer  made  us  at  the  risk 
of  sacrificing  all  the  comforts  that  our  present  situation  can 
afford  us.  1  have  often  almost  come  to  the  conclusion"  that 
I  would  make  the  sacrifice,  and  have  only  been  prevented 
by  the  unfavourable  accounts  of  the  climate.  I  have  always 
heretofore,  viewed  it  as  a  matter  of  temporal  interest,  but 
now  I  view  it  spiritually.  According  to  the  accounts  from 
Liberia,  it  wants  help,  and  such  as  I  trust  I  could  give, 
though  ever  so  little.  I  understand  the  branches  of  a  \vheel- 
wright,  and  blacksmith,  and  carpenter ;  I  also  have  good 
ideas  of  machinery  and  other  branches.  I  trust  also,  were 
I  to  go  there,  I  would  add  one  to  the  number  of  advocates 
for  religion.  I  will  thank  you  to  inform  me  what  things  I 
should  take  for  the  comfort  of  myself  and  family.  I  don't 
expect  to  go  at  the  expense  of  the  Society,  and  therefore 
hope  to  be  allowed  to  take  something  more  than  those  who 
do  not  defray  their  own  expenses." 


On  looking  over  the  pages  that  have  preceded,  the  remem 
brance  of  other  eminent  friends  of  colonization   among  our 


336  APPENDIX. 

countrymen  who  have  also  been  distinguished  by  their  sta 
tion,  talents,  acquirements,  and  virtue,  admonishes  us  of 
many  omissions  :  Among  the  departed  might  have  been 
mentioned  the  names  of  Wirt,  Crawford,  Lowndes,  Judge 
Workman,  of  Louisiana,  who  contributed  to  the  Society's 
funds  $10,000,  and  others  ;  and  among  its  surviving  friends, 
(and  long  may  they  be  spared  to  bless  their  country  and  the 
world,)  might  have  been  named,  without  distinction  of  party  or 
locality,  those  bright  lights  of  our  land,  Clay,  Mercer,  Web 
ster,  Frelinghuysen,  Southard,  Vroom,  Cotton  Smith, 
McLane,  Porter,  McKean,  Everett,  and  others  ;  but  the 
limits  assigned  to  this  appendix  forbid  our  pursuing  this  sub 
ject  as  the  thoughts  would  lead. 


We  will  advert  next  by  acknowledgment  to  the  fact  that 

COLONIZATION  AND  AFRICA  HAVE  FOUND  GENEROUS  FRIENDS 
AMONG  THE  FAIR  SEX. 

OUR  fair  countrywomen,  the  author  is  happy  to  say,  have  not 
withheld  the  pleasing  influence  and  encouragement  of  their 
good  example  and  charities  from  this  great  and  holy  cause. 
Always  ready  to  feel  for  the  wretched,  nor  ever  backward  in 
efforts  of  benevolence  when  humanity  calls,  they  have,  in 
many  instances,  done  themselves  high  honour  by  the  aid 
which  they  have  rendered  to  the  cause  of  Africa  and  of  colo 
nization.  Did  the  respect  that  is  due  to  the  retiring  modesty 
of  the  sex  not  forbid  it,  it  would  be  grateful  to  bear  testi 
mony  to  their  disinterested  benevolence,  and  record  the 
names  of  not  a  few,  who,  though  their  good  works  and  alms' 
deeds  may  not  be  heralded  by  the  trump  of  earthly  fame, 
have  truly  a  record  on  high. 


APPENDIX.  337 

As  an  encouragement  to  others  to  "go,  and  do  likewise," 
and  as  a  just  recognition  of  that  moral  influence  which  the 
ladies  of  our  land,  like  ministering  angels  of  love  and  mercy* 
may  exert — often  undervalued  by  themselves,  but  acknow 
ledged  by  humanity  and  religion  to  be  of  unspeakable  worth ; 
reference  may  be  here  made  to  a  few  instances  of  untiring 
friendship  and  devotion  to  the  cause,  as  communicated  in  a 
note  by  Elliott  Cresson,  Esq.  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  touch* 
ing  the  extent  of  female  benevolence  in  support  of  the  free 
schools  in  Liberia.  Omitting  the  names  of  individuals,  and 
passing  by  some  parts  of  the  communication,  Mr.  Cresson 
writes  as  follows  : — 

"  Colonization  owes  as  much,  perhaps,  to  female  zeal  and 
self-sacrificing  devotion,  as  any  benevolent  enterprise  of  the 
age.  In  the  infancy  of  the  Society,  when  its  friends  were 
few  and  timid,  and  its  enemies  many  and  determined,  the 

untiring  efforts  of  Bishop  M were  most  nobly  seconded 

by  his  excellent  sisters,  the  Misses  M •,  who  contributed 

very  largely  from  their  own  restricted  means,  eliciting  by 
their  example  and  personal  exertions,  the  co-operation  of 
their  friends,  and  finally  dedicated  most  of  their  property  by 
will,  to  sustaining  this  holy  cause.  The  sisters-in-law  of 
that  devoted  friend  of  Africa  have  never  ceased  from  the  per 
formance  of  deeds  of  kindness  towards  h'er  oppressed  chil* 
dren.  This  has  been  manifested  by  liberal  and  frequent  do* 
nations,  by  unwearied  care  over  the  moral  and  religious  cul 
ture  of  those  entrusted  to  them  by  Providence,  and  recently, 
on  the  sailing  of  the  first  expedition  for  Bassa  Cove,  one  of 

them,  Mrs.  P ,  not  only  liberated  fourteen  choice  slaves 

to  aid  the  enterprise,  and  gave  them  an  ample  outfit,  but  ge* 
nerously  added  $500  to  ensure  them  every  thing  necessary 
in  their  new  home. 

11  These  noble  examples  were  not  lost  on  their  friend  and 

neighbour,  Miss  B ,  who,  in  addition  to  the  liberation  of 

EC 


338  APPENDIX. 

eleven  slaves,  (contributing  nearly  all  her  little  property,) 
mortgaged  the  residue  and  raised  $800,  with  which  she  pur 
chased  the  freedom  of  the  husbands  of  two  of  her  women, 
who  were  held  by  persons  in  the  vicinity.  Nor  was  her 
strong  affection  for  this  degraded  people  stopped  here.  By 
devoting  the  proceeds  of  her  needle,  and  the  profits  of  her 
little  dairy  to  their  welfare,  she  has  yearly  increased  the 
humble  resources  of  the  Society,  and  many  a  neighbour  at 
her  instance  has  pledged  a  head  of  young  stock  to  the  same 
purpose,  so  that  at  the  year's  end,  the  united  tributes  of  these 
little  rills  have  done  much  to  swell  the  stream  of  benevolence. 
One  sister,  who  recently  died,  made  the  freedom  of  a  family 
now  settled  in  Liberia,  a  parting  request  to  her  surviving  re 
latives.  Mrs.  W ,  of  Mount  Vernon,  another  sister, 

has  lately  sent  an  interesting  and  valuable  family  of  slaves  to 
Liberia,  and  at  the  same  time  made  a  handsome  donation  to 
the  funds  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society,  whose  want  of  means 
alone  prevented  their  fitting  out  another  expedition  to  convey 
them  and  a  number  of  other  slaves  now  pressed  upon  the 
care  of  that  Society  by  their  benevolent  owners,  to  Bassa 
Cove. 

"  Mrs.  M ,  Mrs.  B ,  and  Mrs.  C of  Arling 
ton,  might  be  mentioned  among  many  of  the  same  circle, 
who  have  for  years  heroically  devoted  themselves  to  the 
task  of  instructing  and  evangelizing  their  own  slaves,  and 
those  of  their  pious  neighbours,  and  aiding  in  support  of 
schools  in  Africa.  Rarely  have  we  listened  to  a  more  deeply 
interesting  narrative  than  that  of  a  clergyman  recently  on  a 
visit  in  the  South,  who  was  present  when  the  former  of 
those  ladies,  now  perfectly  blind,  on  learning  that  her  young 
est  and  darling  son  was  alone  deterred  from  offering  himself 
as  a  missionary  for  Africa  by  the  fear  that  she  would  not 
bear  the  separation,  called  for  her  guide  and  waited  on  the 


APPENDIX.  339 

venerable  senior  Bishop  of  that  diocese,  to  assure  him  that 
however  severe  was  this  test  of  her  faith,  she  could  not 
but  cheerfully  resign  him  for  the  performance  of  a  service 
so  holy. 

"  The  name  of  Miss  M M will  descend  to  pos 
terity  as  one  of  the  illustrious  of  the  age.  Descended  from 
one  of  the  most  ancient  and  distinguished  families  of 
the  South,  and  brought  up  in  the  possession  of  all  that  wealth 
could  bestow,  this  noble  woman  did  not  hesitate,  on  the 
death  of  her  father,  to  liberate  her  own  share  of  his  slaves, 
together  with  such  others  as  could  be  purchased  ;  and  send 
ing  the  young,  the  active,  and  the  vigorous,  at  her  own  cost, 
to  Africa,  she,  one  of  the  loveliest  and  most  accomplished  of 
her  sex,  converted  the  mansion  of  her  ancestors  into  a  board 
ing  school,  and  has  for  years  devoted  herself  to  the  arduous 
duties  of  superintending  it,  that  she  might  discharge  the 
debt  thus  incurred,  and  sustain  the  'old  and  the  worn  out.' 
What  a  beautiful  comment  on  the  charge  of  our  adversaries, 
that  such  only  are  the  objects  of  the  pretended  benevolence 
of  colonizationists  !  It  has  been  the  privilege  of  the  writer 
of  this  faint  tribute  to  female  worth,  to  visit  Cedar  Park 
Seminary  at  the  period  of  its  annual  fair,  when  hundreds  of 
the  surrounding  gentry  assemble  to  enjoy  the  charming  scene 
presented  by  her  fair  charge,  joyously  displaying  the  fruits 
of  the  past  year's  industry,  and  devoting  the  proceeds  of 
their  skill  and  their  taste  to  the  cause  of  education  in  Libe 
ria,  by  which  they  have  already  contributed  upwards  of  $1 100 
toward  the  proposed  college  at  Bassa  Cove.  The  venerable 
mansion — the  natural  features  of  the  scene,  almost  unparal 
leled  for  sylvan  charms — the  rich  display  of  articles  of  uti 
lity  and  beauty — the  happy  and  animated  groups  engaged 
in  the  duties  of  the  day,  were  all  highly  attractive :  but  it 
must  be  confessed  that  all  this  was  infinitely  heightened, 
when,  on  approaching  the  white-headed  little  company  of 


340  APPENDIX. 

merry  old  negroes  assembled  beneath  the  ample  shade  of  the 
monarchs  that  had  for  centuries  spread  their  giant  arms 
athwart  the  verdant  lawn,  and  asking  some  questions  touch 
ing  themselves  and  their  absent  descendants,  they  poured 
forth  a  torrent  of  blessings  upon  their  '  good  missis'  for  the 
benefits  she  had  showered  on  *  them  and  theirs.' 

"•  Who  can  forget  the  spirit-stirring  lays  of  the  sweet 

singer  of  the  North,  Mrs.  S -,  or  her  touching  appeals 

for  the  dark -browed  sons  of  Africa  ?  To  her  discriminating 
judgment  and  patient  care,  do  the  earliest  schools  of  Africa 
owe  much  for  the  selection  and  preparation  of  young  co 
loured  females  who  subsequently  became  eminently  useful 
as  teachers.  Or  who  but  must  revere  the  admirable  patron 

of  those  schools — the  venerable  Friend,  B S ,  of 

Philadelphia,  who  first  planted  and  sustained  them,  and  who 
has  since  presided  over  the  Ladies'  Liberia  School  Associa 
tion,  to  which  those  schools  gave  rise,  with  untiring  assi 
duity  and  liberality,  until  many  hundreds  of  the  offspring  of 
Africa  now  rejoice  in  the  privileges  of  a  Christian  educa 
tion? 

"  Many  other  bright  names  might  be  added  to  this  hur 
ried  list  of  the  early  female  friends  of  colonization  ;  but 
having  already  exceeded  the  limits  I  had  proposed  for  an 
swering  the  query  of  yesterday,  permit  me  to  close  with 
that  of  the  widow  of  the  revered  Finley,  who,  on  advert 
ing  to  his  love  for  Africa  strong  in  death — added,  "  one  son 
is  now  there,  the  other  is  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
pleading  her  cause — and  if  I  possessed  twenty,  I  would 
gladly  dedicate  them  all  to  the  same  holy  cause." 


In  another  portion  of  this  work  reference  has  been  made 
to  distinguished 


APPENDIX.  341 

FRIENDS  OF  THE  CAUSE  IN  ENGLAND. 

This  reference  might  here  be  extended  ;  but  we  will  close 
our  notice  of  those  who  have  dedicated  their  time,  their  ta 
lents,  their  money,  and  their  prayers  to  this  great  enter 
prise,  with  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  merits  of  colonization, 
from  the  pen  of  the  late  JONATHAN  HUTCHINSON,  one  who 
enjoyed  in  a  remarkable  degree  the  love  and  veneration  of 
his  fellow  Christians,  and  the  respect  of  all  who  knew  him. 
This  extract  is  from  testimony  borne  to  the  mission  of  one 
who  visited  England  not  long  since  to  promote  the  views  of 
the  American  Colonization  Society.* 

"  After  a  serious  and  deliberate  consideration  of  the  plan 
exhibited  by  my  friend  ,  for  educating,  chris 
tianizing  and  instructing  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  the 
emancipated  slave  ;  and  thus  preparing  him  as  a  fit  instru 
ment  for  conferring  similar  benefits  upon  his  countrymen  in 
Africa — on  this  review  I  am  led  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is 
the  most  intelligible  in  theory,  the  most  efficient  in  practice, 
and  the  least  expensive  of  any  proposition  on  this  important 
subject,  that  has  hitherto  met  my  observation.  Should  this 
scheme  of  pure  benevolence  be  so  far  able  to  surmount  the 
difficulties  attending  its  course,  as  to  produce  the  full  amount 


*  "  Hannah  Kilham,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in 
England,  and  well  known  for  her  great  benevolence  and  ardent  piety,  visit 
ed  Liberia  in  1832.  She  thus  expresses  herself  in  a  letter  written  while  in 
the  colony  :  'This  colony  altogether  presents  quite  a  new  scene  of  com 
bined  African  and  American  interest.  I  cannot  but  hope  and  trust,  that  it 
is  the  design  of  Infinite  Goodness  to  prepare  a  home  in  this  land  for  many 
who  have  been  denied  the  fall  extent  of  privilege  in  the  land  of  their  birth  ; 
and  that  some,  wha  are  brought  here  but  as  a  shelter  and  resource  for 
themselves,  may,  through  the  visitation  of  heavenly  goodness  in  their  own 
minds,  and  the  farther  leadings  of  Divine  love,  become  ministers  of  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  gospel,  to  many  who  are  now  living  in  darkness,  and  the  sha 
dow  of  death.'  " 

EC2 


342  APPENDIX. 

of  good  of  which  it  appears  capable,  I  think  it  will  ultimately 
prove  to  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  ever  be 
stowed  by  a  gracious  Creator,  through  the  instrumentality 
of  man,  upon  suffering  and  degraded  humanity.  Under 
these  impressions,  I  cannot  but  desire  its  success — and  that 
every  one,  who  with  proper  motives  and  qualifications,  shall 
engage  in  the  service  of  so  noble  a  cause,  may  be  aided  by 
the  sympathy  and  support  of  every  friend  of  the  human 
Xace  ;  and  that  he  may  also  be  favoured  in  the  prosecution 
of  this  great  object,  with  assistance  and  protection  from  the 
universal  Parent  of  the  whole  family  of  man,  who  is 
over  all,  blessed  for  ever  !r 

"  Gedney,  Smo.  13,  1832o" 


OBJECTIONS  OF  OPPOSERS. 


COLONIZATION  UNITES  SOME  OF  CONFLICTING  VIEWS. 

It  has  been  said  by  those  that  are  opposed  to  the  coloni 
zation  scheme,  that  inasmuch  as  the  Colonization  Society 
has  for  its  object  simply  the  removal  of  the  free  people  of 
colour,  with  their  own  consent,  to  Africa,  and  is  supported 
in  this  enterprise  "  by  one  class  of  people  for  one  reason, 
and  by  other  classes  for  other  reasons,"  the  action  of  the 
Society  "  being  suited  to  the  views  of  all,"  it  is  liable  to. 
great  and  serious  objections.  On  the  other  hand,  the  friends. 
of  colonization  think  that  the  singleness  and  simplicity  of 
its  aim,  give  it  great  and  manifest  advantages. 

What  though  its  aim  being  one,  and  steadily  pursuing 
that  one  object,  it  finds  favour  from  those  of  somewhat  op 
posite  views  and  in  some  respects  conflicting  interests  ;. 


APPENDIX,  343 

must  it  therefore,  be  abandoned  ?  Let  it  be  so,  that  some 
give  it  countenance  whose  philanthropy  is  questionable, 
whose  piety  has  no  existence,  whose  motives  are  sinister, 
still,  if  the  object  of  the  Society  is  good,  and  the  end  to  be 
desired  by  the  philanthropist,  the  patriot,  and  Christian, 
ought  we  not  rather  to  rejoice  that  the  cause  of  benevo 
lence  and  patriotism  is  promoted  ?  "  The  presiding  spirit, 
the  life  and  soul  of  the  institution  has  ever  been,  and  ever 
must  be,  christkn  principle.  The  patriot  and  the  statesman 
are  deeply  concerned  in  its  success,  and  they  cannot  with 
hold  their  influence  and  co-operation;  but  it  commends  it 
self  especially  to.  the  Christian  heart,  for  there  it  finds  a 
chord  that  vibrates  in  unison  with  its  noble  design.  The 
most  active  and  efficient  friends  of  the  scheme  have  been 
those  whom  Christianity  claims  as  her  own."* 


*"The  patrons  of  this  enterprise  doubtless  contemplate  its  character 
through  different  mediums,  and  yield  it  their  friendliness  under  the  influ 
ence  of  different  motives.  So  various  are  the  objects  which  it  is  adapted 
and  intended  to  accomplish,  that  one  may  regard  it  with  favour  for  one  rea 
son,  and  another  for  a  different  reason,  while  each  may  feel  that  the  aspect 
in  which  he  views  it,  and  the  particular  consideration  which  appeals  effec 
tively  to  his  generous  sympathy,  are  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify  his 
unreserved  co-operation.  Hence,  among  the  variety  of  reasons  that  secure 
the  concurrence  of  its  numerous  friends,  we  find  the  foreign  reason  and  the 
domestic — the  Southern  reason  and  the  Northern — the  political,  the  com 
mercial  and  the  religious  reason. 

"  But,  there  is  one  patron  of  this  enterprise,  whose  discerning  eye  con 
templates  it  in  every  aspect,  and  whose  candour  appreciates  all  its  designs- 
and  tendencies,  and  in  whose  bosom  all  these  reasons  are  blended  into  one, 
and  whose  kindness  hesitates  not  to  express  the  cordial  wish,  and  extend  the 
Irberal  hand,  and  offer  (he  fervent  prayer  for  its  enlarged  success.  Her 
name  is  Christianity.  It  is  because  the  objects  of  this  Society  are  good,  that 
she  approves  them — and  because  they  are  both  great  and  good,  that  she 
fosters  them  with  her  patronage.  Contemplating  the  final  removal  from 
our  country's  escutcheon  of  a  stain  which  is  hourly  growing  deeper  and 
broader  and  darker — and  designing  to  alleviate  the  wretchedness  of  the  free 
Coloured  population,  and  place  them  in  circumstances  favourable  to  their 


344  APPENDIX. 

OBJECTIONS  CONTRADICTORY. 

The  opposers  of  colonization  say  that  to  advocate  the 
scheme  "  on  the  ground  of  kindness  to  the  people  of  colour, 
as  a  means  of  removing  the  free  from  prejudice  which  they 
cannot  rise  against  here,"  which,  say  they,  "  is  the  motive 
with  many,  is  to  sacrifice  at  least  two  other  objects — the 
missionary  cause  in  Africa,  and  the  extinction  of  slavery  at 
home.  For  when  we  once  admit  the  conclusion  that  the 
free  people  of  colour  cannot  be  elevated  here  to  an  equal 
enjoyment  of  the  civil  and  social  principles  of  our  institu 
tions,  you  cease  to  labour  for  it.  Your  philanthropy  then 
aims  at  the  removal  of  the  whole  body  of  the  free  coloured 
people.  But  the  removal  of  such  a  body,  so  little  improved 
by  education  and  religion,  to  a  heathen  shore,  cannot  but  be 
prejudicial  to  the  spread  of  Christianity  there." 

Again  say  they,  "  the  effect  of  colonization  is  to  fasten 
the  bonds  of  the  slave — for  slave-holders  avail  themselves  of 
the  facilities  which  it  affords,  to  drain  off  the  excess  of  the 
free  blacks,  that  they  may  oppress,  with  the  greater  safety, 
those  who  are  still  in  bondage  !"  This  last  objection  has 
been  suggested,  in  substance,  even  by  one  to  whose  philan 
thropy  and  benevolence,  few  who  know  him,  would  hesi 
tate  to  yield  the  tribute  of  their  cheerful  testimony,  and  the 
purity  of  whose  motive  it  is  confidently  believed  is  above 
suspicion.  He  says  of  African  colonization,  "  It  is  a  ques 
tion,  whether  it  should  be  patronized,  whilst  American 
slavery  endures.  Is  it  right  to  induce  a  portion  of  the  co 
loured  people  of  this  country  to  turn  their  backs  on  their 


physical  and  moral  improvement — and  aiming  at  the  elevation  of  the  black. 
to  a  platform  parallel  with  the  white  man,  she  delights  in  its  high  purposes, 
for  they  are  kindred  to  her  own — and  she  would  be  recreant  to  her  profes 
sions,  did  she  riot  extend  to  it  her  cordial  encouragement,  and  sanction  it 
with  her  choicest  benedictions." — Rev.  C.  Slowe. 


APPENDIX.  345 

brethren  in  bonds ;  to  go  to  a  returnless  distance  from  them, 
and  to  enter  upon  the  creation  of  new  interests  and  attach 
ments,  which  are  calculated  to  efface  the  recollection  of 
those  left  behind  them  ?  We  must  remember  too,  that  this 
is  the  only  portion  of  that  unhappy  population,  which  is  at 
liberty  to  remonstrate  against  the  cruelty  and  wickedness  of 
oppression,  and  to  plead  for  the  exercise  of  mercy.  Those 
for  whom  they  are  required  to  open  their  mouths,  are  not 
permitted  to  speak  for  themselves — and  we  must  remember 
too,  that  amongst  these  dumb  ones,  whose  cause  we  should 
thereby  deprive  of  its  most  natural  advocates,  are,  in  innu 
merable  instances,  the  fathers,  mothers,  children,  brothers, 
sisters,  of  those  whom  we  propose  to  carry  away.  Were 
we,  our  families,  and  neighbours,  to  be  carried  captive  into 
a  foreign  land,  and  were  you  and  I  to  be  released  from  bon 
dage,  would  it  be  natural  and  right  in  us  to  separate  our 
selves  by  thousands  of  miles  and  for  ever,  from  our  friends 
and  kindred,  still  pining  under  the  yoke  of  slavery  1  or 
would  it  not  be  a  more  humane  and  suitable  use  of  our  li 
berty  to  cleave  to  those  beloved  sufferers — to  study  the  con 
solation  of  their  aching  hearts — and  to  be  getting  up  every 
righteous  appeal  in  their  behalf  to  their  guilty  oppressors  ? 
I  would  not  say,  that  there  is  in  the  consideration  I  here 
present,  a  fatal  objection  to  the  colonization  scheme.  There 
is  certainly,  however,  enough  in  it  to  lead  us  to  inquire 
whether  we  are  clearly  doing  right,  and  as  we  would  be 
done  by,  when  we  labour  to  induce  our  free  people  of  co 
lour  to  desert  their  enslaved  brethren.  There  is  certainly 
enough  in  it  to  excuse  the  following  resolution,  (of  certain 
blacks,) — « Resolved,  That  we  never  will  separate  ourselves 
voluntarily  from  the  slave  population  of  our  country.  They 
are  our  brethren  by  the  ties  of  consanguinity,  of  suffering 
and  of  wrong ;  and  we  feel  that  there  is  more  virtue  in  suf 
fering  privations  with  them,  than  in  enjoying  fancied  advan 
tages  for  a  season.'  " 


346  APPENDIX. 

These  objections  are  thus  stated  at  some  length,  for  can 
dour  requires  it.  But  in  reference  to  them,  it  may  be  pro 
per  to  ask,  whether  the  one  objection  does  not  in  a  good  de 
gree  nullify  the  other  ?  If  the  coloured  people  to  whom  the 
society  would  afford  facilities  for  removing  to  Africa,  are  of 
such  signal  service  at  home,  and  so  essential  to  their  "breth 
ren  in  bonds,"  might  they  not  be  greatly  useful  in  Liberia  ? 
Or,  is  the  avowed  object  of  their  detention  to  secure  their  in 
crease,  and  to  encourage  their  co-operation  with  the  slave 
stimulated  by  the  arguments  and  persuasions  and  flatteries  of 
a  portion  of  the  whites,  until  fearful  and  bloody  scenes  shall 
be  the  result  ?  It  is  believed  by  many  that  there  is  but  one 
possible  way  in  which,  opposing  colonization,  the  blacks 
can  be  led  to  expect  that  they  shall  expedite  the  abolishment 
of  slavery  in  our  land,  or  that  they  can  be  of  essential  bene 
fit  to  their  "  brethren  in  bonds,"  by  remaining  here ;  and 
that  is,  by  the  system  of  compulsion  which  has  been  alluded 
to.  For  how  will  the  free  blacks  "  remonstrate  with  the 
holders  of  slaves  ? — how  appeal  in  behalf  of  their  enslaved 
brethren,  to  their  guilty  oppressors?"  Will  their  remon 
strances  be  suffered  at  the  South  1 — will  their  appeals  be  lis 
tened  to  ?  Or  are  the  blacks  who  are  already  free,  to  "  re 
monstrate"  indirectly,  and  to  "appeal"  indirectly,  to  those 
who  are  termed  "  guilty  oppressors,"  through  the  influence 
of  the  people  in  the  Northern  States  ?  Could  the  great  ma 
jority  of  the  non-slave-holding  States  be  brought  to  be  of  one 
mind  on  the  subject,  and  should  they  think  and  declare  their 
conviction  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  slave-holder  to  give  imme 
diate  and  universal  freedom  to  his  slaves,  what  can  they  do 
more?  Violate  the  constitution?  Amend  it?  Either  at 
tempt  will  be  the  certain  signal  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  and  perhaps  for  the  flowing  of  rivers  of  blood.  The 
South  are  evidently  resolved  to  allow  of  no  interference  ; 
and  it  is  honestly  believed  by  many  that  a  much  surer  way 


APPENDIX.  347 

of  bringing  about  unity  of  sentiment  in  relation  to  the  course 
of  the  slave-holder,  is  to  relieve  all  parts  of  our  country  as 
fast  as  possible  from  the  evils  which  seem  inseparable  from 
the  presence  of  a  degraded  population  of  the  coloured  free. 
But  why,  again  it  is  asked,  why  the  solemn  remonstrance 
against  aiding  the  emigration  of  such  free  blacks  as  desire  to 
settle  in  Liberia,  on  the  ground  that  their  "  appeals"  and 
"remonstrances"  are  needed  at  home,  and  that  it  would  be 
a  great  dereliction  of  duty  in  them,  "  to  turn  their  backs  on 
their  brethren  in  bonds  ?"  Whether  the  resolution  referred 
to  would  ever  have  emanated  unsolicited  from  any  portion  of 
the  coloured  people  themselves,  is  a  question  concerning 
which  some  have  expressed  doubts  ;  and  how  far  such  a  re 
solution,  and  the  declaration  and  use  of  it  as  above,  is  politic 
and  calculated  to  benefit  either  the  slave  or  the  free,  or  con 
ciliate  feelings  supposed  to  be  adverse  to  the  interests  of  both» 
admits  also  of  doubt. 


COLONIZATION  WILL  ADVANCE  CHRISTIANITY. 

As  to  this  first  objection — it  is  declared  by  the  friends 
of  colonization  that  they  never  designed  to  remove  to  Libe 
ria  such  as  forbid  the  hope  of  their  becoming  good  citizens 
of  the  colony.  Moreover,  when  the  humane,  encouraged 
by  the  door  which  colonization  opens  for  them  to  better  the 
condition  of  their  slaves,  have  resolved  on  their  emancipa 
tion,  there  has  usually  been  an  effort  preparatory,  to  qualify 
them  for  the  new  station  which  they  are  to  occupy.  Be 
sides,  not  only  is  great  pains  taken  by  the  Society  in  respect 
to  the  morals  of  those  sent  to  the  colony,  and  great  encou* 
ragement  given  by  the  Society  to  the  slave-holder  to  emanci 
pate  his  slaves,  and  prepare  them  for  freedom  ;  but  it  is  a 
fact  well  understood,  that  those  freed  blacks  who  are  here 


348  APPENDIX. 

without  sufficient  incentive  to  manly  effort,  and  without  the 
means  or  opportunity  to  rise,  are  inspired  with  new  life  when 
placed  in  a  situation  which  furnishes  greater  motive  to  energy 
and  virtue. 

Circumstances  have  great  influence  in  forming  the  cha 
racter.  "The  early  circumstances  of  the  people  of  New- 
England,"  says  the  Repository  of  1831,  "rendered  them 
proverbially  enterprising  ;  and  we  recently  heard  a  foreigner 
remark,  that  England  had  hardly  made  a  single  invention  in 
the  mechanic  arts,  which  has  not  already  been  improved 
upon  in  the  United  States,  National,  like  individual  cha 
racter,  is  often  elevated  and  strengthened  by  circumstances  ; 
and  no  one  can  doubt  that  many  causes  that  can  never  be 
realized  here,  will  operate  in  Africa  to  develope  the  talents, 
invigorate  the  faculties,  and  dignify  the  purposes  of  the  peo^- 
pie  of  colour." 

Nationality  is  indispensable  to  the  proper  elevation  of  any 
people,  and  the  full  development  of  the  human  intellect.* 


*  Dr.  Beecher  has  well  remarked,  that  "  There  is  no  such  thing  as  raising 
the  human  mind  without  nationality.  You  must  have  the  whole  ma 
chinery  of  society,  or  you  never  will  do  it.  That  is  the  reason  the  Indians 
cannot  be  civilized.  It  is  a  slander  to  say  that  there  is  any  thing  in  the 
Indian  mind  to  prevent  it.  They  are  not  improved,  because  you  cannot 
bring  upon  them  the  motives  for  improvement.  They  have  no  national  ex 
istence  to  bring  out  their  powers.  I  mourn  over  their  condition ;  and  sure  I 
am,  that  if  they  could  have  one  state  where  their  mind  would  have  a  fair 
field  to  show  itself,  it  would  develope  as  great  and  noble  traits  as  ever  dis 
tinguished  humanity.  I  never  knew  human  nature  in  a  state  of  barbarism 
where  it  exhibited  such  features  as  it  does  among  our  American  Indians. 
As  to  the  poor  African,  he  never  can  rise  without  space  to  move  in,  and  ma- 
iives  to  action.  If  you  refuse  to  remove  him,  you  will  have  an  equal  num 
ber  of  paupers  thrown  upon  your  shores,  and  then  you  must  support  both. 
The  ways  of  God  are  high  and  dreadful.  He  takes  the  wickedest  of  men 
and  causes  them  to  accomplish  his  own  purpose.  Their  hearts  think  not  sc> 


APPENDIX.  349 

How  many,  who,  had  they  remained  here,  would  have  been 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  undistinguished 
either  for  their  enterprise,  or  any  virtue,  are  achieving  for 
themselves  and  descendants,  great  honour  in  Liberia?*  The 
instances  are  not  a  few,  and  the  facts  are  irresistible.  And 
whilst  they  have  done  well  both  for  themselves  and  posterity, 
by  removal,  it  is  also  said  in  truth,  "  The  elevated  religious 
character  of  the  colonists,  their  serious  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  their  strict  integrity  in  commercial  intercourse,  and 
their  habitual  propriety  of  conduct,  have  secured  the  respect 
of  the  natives,  and  placed  matters  in  such  an  attitude,  that 
any  efforts  to  promote  their  temporal  and  eternal  welfare 
would  be  kindly  received  and  abundantly  successful." 

Is  the  colony  of  Liberia  such  as  "  cannot  but  be  prejudi- 


neither  do  they  mean  so ;  but  in  their  wickedness  they  do  that  which  God 
blesses  and  overrules  for  good.  The  coast  of  Africa  has  been  environed 
with  dangers.  It  is  almost  inaccessible  to  the  approach  of  the  white  man, 
and  that  whole  continent  has  yet  to  be  civilized  and  christianized ;  and 
how  is  it  to  be  done  ?  God  has  permitted  what  has  come  to  pass.  He  has 
suffered  its  inhabitants  to  be  brought  here  as  slaves,  and  the  transposition  has 
scarcely  increased  their  miseries.  God  is  not  in  a  hurry  in  accomplishing 
his  designs  ;  and  by  bringing  them  into  a  Christian  land,  he  has  prepared  the 
way  for  their  being  thrown  back  in  a  christianized  condition  on  their  native 
shore.  I  believe  that  colonization  is  destined  to  stop  the  slave-trade.  Your 
colonies  will  stand  like  a  chain  of  light  from  point  to  point  along  the  whole 
dark  coast  of  benighted  Africa,  and  from  the  colonies  will  your  missionaries 
go  into  the  interior,  until  they  shall  have  spread  a  belt  of  salvation  over  that 
benighted  portion  of  the  globe." 

*  "  It  would  be  very  difficult  to  point  to  any  part  of  the  world  where  new 
colonists  are  not,  both  intellectually  and  morally,  superior  to  the  people  in 
the  old  country  from  whom  they  sprang.  Especially  is  this  the  case  where 
any  pains  have  been  taken  to  extend  to  the  new  settlement  the  means  of 
moral  and  intellectual  improvement.  The  colony  in  New  South  Wales, 
composed  to  a  great  extent  of  the  most  degraded  class  of  the  British  people, 
of  men  and  women  condemned  to  transportation  for  their  crimes,  is  now  an 
industrious,  moral,  and  flourishing  community,  and  bids  fair  to  become  the 
nucleus  of  a  great  and_  respectable  nation.  New  colonies,  from  the  nature 
of  the  case,  are  favourable  to  the  improvement  of  character." — Repository. 

Ff 


350  APPENDIX. 

cial  to  the  spread  of  Christianity  ?  It  is  not  the  testimony  of 
one  alone,  as  given  above  ;  but  credible  witnesses  who 
have  been  at  the  colony,  and  seen  for  themselves,  and  were 
competent  to  form  a  correct  and  unprejudiced  opinion,  de 
clare  that  a  more  moral  community  cannot  be  found  together 
in  any  part  of  our  own  highly  favoured  country  !  That  a 
good  Christian  influence  has  been  exerted  by  the  colony, 
facts  that  call  for  gratitude  to  heaven,  and  that  powerfully 
urge  the  claims  of  colonization  upon  our  benevolence,  fully 
attest.  By  the  removal  of  the  free  blacks,  they,  as  a  whole, 
and  their  posterity,  are  blessed  ;  at  the  same  time,  Africa  is 
blessed,  and  our  own  country  is  benefitted.  The  influence 
of  the  example  of  the  colony  upon  the  surrounding  heathen, 
although  that  example  may  not  be  perfect,  is  good  ;  facilities 
are  afforded  by  the  colony  to  missionary  effort  which,  with 
out  the  colony,  could  not  be  enjoyed,  and  without  which  fa 
cilities  in  the  then  present  state  of  Africa,  every  effort  would 
be  comparatively  hopeless ;  the  slave-trade  is  interrupted, 
and  will  finally  be  utterly  broken  up  ;  and  Africa  is  being 
restored  to  respectability  and  happiness,  that  she  may  rise 
from  the  dust,  and  her  once  enslaved  children  and  their  de 
scendants  may  obtain  a  name  and  a  place  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.* 


*It  would  be  easy  here  to  multiply  instances  showing  the  rapid  deterio 
ration,  generally,  of  slaves,  as  respects  morality,  industry,  and  all  virtue, 
when  freed  without  the  stimulus  which  a  new  location,  where  are  encourag 
ing  prospects  of  due  elevation,  gives.  We  will  refer  to  an  instance  or  two. 

Said  William  Ladd,  Esq.,  of  Maine,  in  an  address  before  the  Massachusetts 
Colonization  Society,  in  1833,  in  support  of  a  resolution  '  that  the  American 
Colonization  Society  merits  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  all  who  are  op 
posed,  on  principle,  to  slavery,'  "  Many  years  ago  I  loaded  a  ship  in  Savan 
nah,  and  had  for  my  stevedore,  one  Joe  Blog.  He  was  one  of  the  smartest 
and  most  faithful  men  I  ever  employed.  I  gave  his  master  a  dollar  a  day 
for  him,  and  gave  Joe  privately  half  a  dollar  a  day  beside.  Joe  was  active, 
sleek,  well-dressed,  and  sprightly.  Joe  was  a  slave.  Some  years  after  I  re 
turned  to  the  same  port,  and  sought  out  my  old  friend  Joe,  aud  employed 


APPENDIX.  351 

In  reference  to  the  other  objection — that  colonization  per 
petuates  slavery,  we  may  also  appeal  to  facts.  Mr.  M.  Carey 
has  said  truly,  that  "  Among  the  most  promising  and  en 
couraging  circumstances  attending  the  career  of  this  Society, 
are  the  numerous  manumissions  that  have  taken  place  in  al 
most  all  the  slave-states,  on  the  express  condition  of  the 
freed  people  being  sent  to  Liberia.  These  manumissions 
have  occurred  on  a  scale  that  the  most  sanguine  friends  of 


him. — lie  was  idle,  restless,  ragged,  and  lazy,  and  I  soon  dismissed  him. 
Joe  was  free.  And  as  far  as  my  observation  has  extended,  and  I  have  lived 
long  in  slave  countries,  this  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  liberated  slaves,  though 
there  are  noble  exceptions.  But  I  consider  it  more  their  misfortune  than 
their  fault.  With  no  other  incentive  to  labour  than  the  fear  of  the  lash, 
uneducated  and  ignorant,  what  better  can  we  expect?" 

The  illustrious  Madison,  in  a  letter  to  a  gentleman,  published  just  before 
his  decease,  says,  "  You  express  a  wish  to  obtain  information  in  relation  to 
the  history  of  the  emancipated  people  of  colour  in  Prince  Edward.  I  pre 
sume  those  emancipated  by  the  late  Richard  Randolph  more  especially. 
More  than  twenty-five  years  ago,  1  think,  they  were  liberated,  at  which 
time  they  numbered  about  100,  and  were  settled  on  small  parcels  of  land  of 
ten  to  twenty-five  acres  to  each  family.  As  long  as  the  habits  of  industry  which 
they  had  acquired  while  slaves,  lasted,  they  continued  to  increase  in  num 
bers,  and  lived  in  some  degree  of  comfort,— but  as  soon  as  this  was  lost,  and 
most  of  those  who  had  been  many  years  in  slavery,  either  died  or  became 
old  and  infirm,  arid  a  new  race  raised  in  idleness  and  vice  sprang  up,  they 
began  not  only  to  be  idle  and  vicious,  but  to  diminish  instead  of  increasing, 
and  have  continued  to  diminish  in  numbers  very  regularly  every  year — and 
that  too,  without  emigration;  for  they  have  almost  without  exception,  re 
mained  together,  in  the  same  situation  as  at  first  placed,  to  this  day. 

"  Idleness,  poverty,  and  dissipation  are  the  agents  which  continue  to  dimi 
nish  their  numbers,  and  to  render  them  wretched  in  the  extreme,  as  well  as 
a  great  pest  and  heavy  tax  upon  the  neighbourhood  in  which  they  live. 
There  is  so  little  of  industry  and  so  much  dissipation  among  them,  that  it  is 
impossible  that  the  females  can  rear  their  families  of  children — and  the  con 
sequence  is,  that  they  prostitute  themselves,  and  consequently  have  few 
children— and  the  operations  of  time,  profligacy,  and  disease,  more  than 
keep  pace  with  any  increase  among  them.  While  they  are  a  very  great  pest 
and  heavy  tax  upon  the  community,  it  is  most  obvious  they  themselves 
are  infinitely  worsted  by  the  exchange  from  slavery  to  liberty — if,  indeed, 
their  condition  deserve  that  name." 


352  APPENDIX. 

the  scheme  could  not  have  anticipated.  Entire  families  have 
been  blest  with  their  freedom,  from  the  most  pure  motives, 
a  conviction  of  the  immorality  and  injustice  of  slavery — and 
in  many  cases  ample  provision  has  been  made  for  the  ex 
pense  of  their  passage,  and  in  some,  for  their  support  in  Li 
beria.  They  have  been  thus  released  from  the  debasement 
and  degradation  of  slavery,  and  sent  to  the  land  of  their  fa 
thers,  to  partake  of  all  the  happiness  that  freedom  and  the 
certainty  of  enjoying  all  the  fruits  of  their  labour,  can  in 
spire," 


COLONIZATION  PROMOTES  EMANCIPATION. 

It  would  be  impracticable  here  to  enumerate  all  the  cases 
that  have  transpired  in  which  the  opening  at  Liberia  has  been 
an  inducement  to  the  liberation  of  slaves.  The  facts  which 
Mr.  Carey  collected  and  published  in  his  letters,  and  those 
additional  instances  which  have  fallen  under  notice  recently, 
cannot  all  be  mentioned  here.  But  a  few  instances  may  be 
given  as  specimens,  to  show  the  good  influence  of  the  so 
ciety  in  encouraging  emancipation,  and  to  show  the  encou 
ragement  which  is  given  to  the  Society  to  persevere  and 
abound  in  its  great  and  benevolent  work. 

Col.  Smith,  an  old  revolutionary  officer,  of  Sussex  coun 
ty,  Va.,  ordered  in  his  will,  that  all  his  slaves,  seventy  or 
eighty  in  number,  should  be  emancipated ;  and  bequeathed 
above  $5,000  to  defray  the  expense  of  transporting  them  to 
Liberia.  Patsey  Morris,  of  Louisa  county,  Va.,  directed  by 
will,  that  all  her  slaves,  sixteen  in  number,  should  be  eman 
cipated,  and  left  $500  to  fit  them  out,  and  defray  the  expense 
of  their  passage.  Dr.  Bradley,  of  Georgia,  left  forty-nine 
slaves  free,  on  condition  of  their  removal  to  Liberia.  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Morris,  of  Bourbon  co,  Va.,  provided  by  will  for 


APPENDIX.  353 

the  emancipation  of  her  slaves,  about  forty  in  number.  Da 
vid  Patterson,  of  Orange  co.  N.  C.,  freed  eleven  slaves,  to 
be  sent  to  Liberia.  A  gentleman  in  N.  C.  last  year,  gave 
freedom  to  all  his  slaves,  fourteen  in  number,  and  provided 
$20  each,  to  pay  their  passage  to  Liberia.  Wm.  Fitzhugh, 
bequeathed  their  freedom  to  all  his  slaves,  after  a  certain, 
fixed  period,  and  ordered  that  their  expenses  should  be  paid 
to  whatsoever  place  they  should  think  proper  to  go.  And, 
"  as  an  encouragement  to  them  to  emigrate  to  the  American 
colony  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  where,"  adds  the  will,  "  I  be 
lieve  their  happiness  will  be  more  permanently  secured,  I 
desire  no  only  that  the  expenses  of  their  emigration  be 
paid,  but  that  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  be  paid  to  each  one  so 
emigrating,  on  his  or  her  arrival  in  Africa."  David  Shriver, 
of  Frederic  co.  Md.,  ordered  by  his  will,  that  all  his  slaves, 
thirty  in  number,  should  be  emancipated,  and  that  proper 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  comfortable  support  of  the 
infirm  and  aged,  and  for  the  instruction  of  the  young  in 
reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  and  in  some  art  or  trade,  by 
which  they  might  acquire  the  means  of  support.  Rev.  Ro 
bert  Cox,  Suffolk  co.  Va.,  provided  by  his  will  for  the  eman 
cipation  of  all  his  slaves,  upwards  of  thirty,  and  left  several 
hundred  dollars  to  pay  their  passage  to  Liberia.  A  lady, 
near  Charlestown,  Va.  liberated  all  her  slaves,  ten  in  num 
ber,  to  be  sent  to  Liberia  ;  and  moreover  purchased  two, 
whose  families  were  among  her  slaves.  For  the  one  she 
gave  $450,  and  for  the  other  $350.  Herbert  B.  Elder,  of 
Petersburg,  Va.  bequeathed  their  freedom  to  all  his  slaves, 
twenty  in  number,  with  directions  that  they  should  be  con 
veyed  to  Liberia,  by  the  first  opportunity.  Mrs.  J.  of  Mer 
cer  co.  Kentucky,  and  her  two  sons,  one  a  clergyman,  and 
the  other  a  physician,  offered  the  Colonization  Society  sixty 
slaves,  to  be  conveyed  to  Liberia.  Rev.  Fletcher  Andrew, 
gave  freedom  to  twenty,  who  constituted  most  of  his  pro- 

Ff2 


354  APPENDIX. 

perty,  for  the  same  purpose.  Nathaniel  Crenshaw,  near 
Richmond,  liberated  sixty  slaves,  with  a  view  to  have  them 
sent  to  Liberia.  Mr.  Isaac  Ross,  of  Mississippi,  an  officer 
in  the  war  of  the  revolution,  more  recently  left  all  his  slaves, 
170  in  number,  on  the  following  conditions,  viz  :  that  after 
the  death  of  his  daughter,  (now  a  widow,)  the  slaves  who 
may  be  over  twenty-one  years  of  age  shall  decide  whether 
they  will  remain  in  bondage  or  go  to  Africa.  Jf 'they  deter 
mine  to  go  to  Africa,  all  the  property  is  to  be  sold,  and  the 
proceeds,  together  with  the  proceeds  of  the  crops  till  that 
time,  (12,000  or  15,000  dollars  excepted,)  are  to  be  expend 
ed  in  their  transportation  and  comfortable  settlement  in 
the  colony  of  Liberia,  and  the  establishment  of  an  insti 
tution  of  learning  in  some  part  of  the  colony.  If  they  de 
termine  not  to  go,  they  and  all  the  estate  is  to  be  sold,  and 
the  proceeds  applied  to  the  endowment  of  the  aforesaid  in 
stitution  of  learning.  A  gentleman  of  Louisiana,  not  long 
since,  left  thirty  to  go  to  Liberia,  and  directed  his  executors 
to  pay  their  passage — an  outfit  of  tools,  implements  of  hus 
bandry,  provisions  and  clothes  for  one  year,  and  to  two  of 
them  he  gave  $500  each.  Another,  from  the  same  State, 
left  thirty,  making  similar  provisions  for  their  removal  to 
Africa,  and  for  their  comfort  after  their  arrival.  In  Virginia, 
recently,  one  has  manumitted  twenty-three,  another  fifty, 
another  sixteen,  and  a  fourth  twenty-five  ;  and  many  others 
with  similar  and  smaller  numbers.  But  all  were  manumitted 
on  condition  of  their  going  to  Africa.  In  Tennessee,  many 
examples  similar  to  the  above  have  been  given  during  the 
past  year.  One  man  liberated  twenty-three,  and  another 
twenty-one,  supplying  them  with  ample  funds,  and  also 
providing  clothing  for  them,  and  furnishing  them  with  suita 
ble  tools,  and  for  paying  the  expense  of  their  removal  to 
Africa.  Her  legislature  has  promised  to  give  $10  toward 
defraying  the  expenses  of  each  one  who  shall  go  to  Liberia,, 


APPENDIX.  355 

The  excellent  example  of  Mr.  Turpin,  who  some  time  since 
emancipated  all  his  slaves  in  South  Carolina,  and  gave  them 
his  estate  valued  at  $329,000,  is  worthy  of  constant  remem 
brance  and  imitation.  Eighteen  were  liberated  by  Mrs. 
Greenfield,  near  Natchez,  on  the  condition  that  they  should 
go  to  Africa ;  and  on  the  same  condition  E.  B.  Randolph,  of 
Columbus,  liberated  twenty  ;  Wm.  Foster,  Esq.  twenty-one  ; 
another  twenty-eight ;  a  gentleman  in  Kentucky,  sixty;  a 
lady  in  the  same  State,  forty  ;  all  for  the  most  part  young, 
and  all,  with  very  few  exceptions,  under  forty  years  of  age. 
The  Society  of  Friends  in  North  Carolina  had  liberated,  in 
1835,  no  less  than  652. 

Numerous  applications  are  constantly  before  the  Society, 
or  its  auxiliaries,  for  assistance  in  emigrating  to  Africa.  A 
large  number  of  slaves  are,  by  the  decision  of  their  masters, 
free  in  prospect,  and  in  a  course  of  preparation  for  liberty; 
whilst  others  will  be  free  the  moment  they  can  find  a  pas 
sage  to  Liberia. 

It  is  an  unquestionable  fact,  well  worthy  of  consideration, 
that  the  fewer  slaves  there  are  in  any  section  of  country, 
the  more  easy  is  it  to  emancipate ;  and  the  stronger  becomes 
the  tendency  to  emancipation.  The  same  remark  may 
apply  to  the  absence  of  a  free  coloured  population  in  slave- 
holding  districts.  It  is  not  easy  to  emancipate  the  slave 
whilst,  by  so  doing,  you  will  in  all  probability  increase  the 
dangers  that  threaten  society,  and  swell  the  number  of  those 
whose  freedom  seems  to  be  a  curse.  Besides,  as  instances 
are  multiplied,  those  who  emancipate  their  slaves,  become  a 
standing  monument,  in  the  midst  of  a  slave-holding  commu 
nity  "of  the  triumph  of  Christian  principle  over  selfish  in 
terest — a  constant,  living  reproof  to  all  who  still  retain  their 
fellow-men  in  bondage."* 

*  Much  has  been  said  in  reference  to  emancipation,  of  a  mental  renuncia 
tion  of  the  right  of  property  in  slaves;  "  a  renunciation  which  the  law 


356  APPENDIX. 

If  colonization  were  abandoned,  many  Christian  slave 
holders,  who  desire  to  emancipate  their  slaves,  would  be  de 
prived  of  the  power  of  doing  so,  the  laws  of  the  slave-hold 
ing  States  generally  prohibiting  emancipation  unless  the 
slaves  are  removed  from  the  State.  True,  it  may  be  said, 
"  these  are  wicked  laws ;"  and  the  sincerity  of  such  slave 
holders  may  be  treated  with  discredit,  and  affected  contempt 
and  ridicule  may  assail  them  in  the  place  of  kind  remon 
strance  and  argument — as  in  the  following  instance,  taken 
from  an  immediate  abolition  periodical : — 

" But  are  you  not  aware,  Sir,  that  in  many  States 

there  are  laws  against  emancipation  ?"  This  was  uttered 
with  a  most  imposing  air  by  a  man  who  was  defending  slave 
ry  under  the  present  circumstances.  "  Indeed,"  replied  his 
opponent,  "  but  who  make  the  laws  ?"  "  The  slave-hold 
ers,  to  be  sure."  "  So  I  thought ;  and  the  unfortunate  con 
dition  of  the  poor  slave-holders,  who  have  tied  their  own 
hands  by  such  laws,  reminds  me  of  an  anecdote.  A  lady 
somewhere  in  Virginia,  on  going  out  for  a  few  hours,  left 
some  trifling  matters  to  be  attended  to  in  her  absence,  by  her 
little  daughter.  On  her  return,  she  found  that  all  the  things 
which  were  to  be  done,  had  been  neglected. — «  How  is  this, 
my  dear,'  said  she,  *  why  have  you  not  done  this,  and 
why  not  that  ?'  '  Because  I  could'nt  mamma.'  '  But  why 
could'nt  you  ?'  '  Why,  don't  you  see,  mamma,  I  am  tied 
to  the  leg  of  the  table  ?'  '  Indeed,  so  you  are,  but  who 

would  treat  as  a  nullity,  and  which  might  be  mentally  retracted,  at  any 
moment,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  community."  One  instance,  in  the 
midst  of  the  slave-holding  States,  of  bona  fide  emancipation,  evidenced  by 
self-denying  exertions  to  locate  the  emancipated  in  a  land  where  they  may 
be  truly  free  and  blessed,  will,  it  is  conscientiously  believed,  have  more  force 
in  freeing  others,  than  a  hundred  auxiliaries  at  the  North,  or  tens  of  thou 
sands  of  speeches  and  resolves  which  never  reach  the  eye  or  ear  of  a  sin 
gle  slave-holder,  or  if  they  do,  serve  only  to  irritate  the  slave-holder,  and 
shut  up  every  avenue  to  conviction. 


APPENDIX.  357 

tied  you  to  the  leg  of  the  table,  my  dear?'     '  Oh,  I  tied 
myself,  mamma  / .' ' ! 

This  anecdote,  quite  amusing  in  itself,  whether  founded 
in  fact  or  supposed,  is  in  its  application,  to  say  the  least, 
unfair  and  sophistical.  It  supposes  that  those  slave-holders 
who  find  the  laws  an  impediment  in  the  way  of  emancipa 
tion,  are  the  identical  majority  of  the  several  States,  which 
majority  has  enacted  those  laws ;  this,  it  is  well  known,  is 
not  the  fact — and  unless  it  be  so,  how  is  the  comparison 
just,  or  otherwise  than  unkind  and  insulting  to  the  benevo 
lent  and  Christian  feelings  of  those  who,  seeking  the  best 
interests  of  the  coloured  race,  are  desirous  of  giving  free 
dom  to  their  slaves  ?*  Besides,  it  is  possible,  not  only  for 


*"  In  the  year  1770,  the  Friends  in  the  United  States  declared  slavery  to 
be  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  Christianity,  and  prohibited  it  among 
the  members  of  their  body.  The  Friends  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  North 
Carolina,  including  a  part  of  Tennessee  and  Virginia,  amounting  to  7  or 
800,000,  petitioned  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina,  for  permission  to 
emancipate  their  slaves.  It  was  refused.  They  continued  to  press  the 
subject  with  petition  after  petition  for  forty  years,  and  with  no  better  suc 
cess.  They,  at  length,  without  law,  emancipated  their  slaves  upon  the 
soil;  and  what  was  the  consequence?  More  than  one  hundred  of  those 
emancipated  slaves  were  taken  up,  and  sold  into  perpetual  and  hopeless 
bondage,  under  the  laws  of  the  State.  Emancipation  on  the  soil  was  plainly 
impossible  in  the  existing  state  of  public  feeling.  After  various  expedients, 
and  having  expended  in  ten  years  more  than  $20,000  in  procuring  asylums 
for  their  slaves  in  the  free  States,  the  free  States  made  enactments  prevent 
ing  this  intrusion  of  free  blacks  upon  them.  Pennsylvania,  New-Jersey, 
and  New- York  were  applied  to  in  vain,  the  door  was  shut.  Some  years 
since,  they  embarked  one  hundred  of  their  liberated  slaves  for  Pennsyl 
vania.  They  were  refused  a  landing  in  the  State.  They  went  over  to 
New-Jersey.  The  same  refusal  met  them  there.  They  were  then  left  to 
float  up  and  down  the  Delaware  river  without  a  spot  of  dry  land  to  set  their 
feet  upon,  till  the  Colonization  Society  took  them  up  and  gave  them  a  rest 
ing  place  in  Liberia. 

"  They  have  now  five  hundred  slaves  left,  whom  they  are  anxious  to  li 
berate  ;  and  what  shall  they  do  ?  Get  the  laws  of  the  State  altered  ?  They 
laboured  after  that  for  forty  years,  and  more  than  one  whole  generation  of 


358  APPENDIX. 

individuals  who  can  have  but  little  influence  in  legislation, 
but  even  for  the  majority,  even  for  a  whole  people,  without 
an  individual  exception,  to  propose,  and  enact,  and  con 
tinue,  and  support  such  laws,  without  being  liable  to  the 
inconsistency  and  reproach  which  is  intended  in  the  above 
comparison.  Laws  are  designed  for  the  general  good  ;  and 
if  it  be  not  safe  for  the  community  at  large  ;  and  not  gene 
rous  and  truly  kind,  but  greatly  injurious  to  the  slaves  at 
large,  to  emancipate  them  universally  and  immediately — 
laws  for  the  preservation  of  the  slave,  and  the  protec 
tion  of  the  commonwealth,  are  necessary  and  unavoidable  ; 
and  by  those  laws  all  good  citizens  must  be  governed,  with 
out  exception.  Every  good  citizen  in  that  case  is  "  tied," 
not  by  himself,  but  by  invincible  necessity — the  peculiar  cir 
cumstances  of  the  case  which  render  such  laws  necessary 
both  as  an  act  of  humanity  toward  the  slave,  and  of  sacred 
regard  to  the  common  weal.* 

black  men  died  in  bondage  while  their  masters  were  striving  to  effectuate 
immediate  emancipation.  IMMEDIATE  EMANCIPATION  they  found  to  be  so 
slow  a  process  that  they  were  obliged  to  resort  to  COLONIZATION,  in  order 
that  something  might  be  done  immediately.  And  in  such  instances,  what 
possible  mode  of  immediate  relief  is  there  except  colonization  ?  Shall  they 
resist  the  laws  of  the  State  ?  This  would  be  contrary  to  the  principles  of 
Quakerism  :  and  on  this  point  at  least,  the  unlawfulness  of  aggressive  re 
sistance  even  to  legalized  oppression,  the  wrongfulness  of  destroying  human 
life  for  the  attainment  of  any  political  purpose — on  this  point  I  must  con 
ceive  that  Quakerism  is  Christianity." — Prof.  Stowe. 

*  "  Though  every  virtuous  man  will  aim  to  promote  that  state  of  society 
which  secures  freedom  and  equal  rights  to  every  member  of  the  commu 
nity,  and  though  of  the  possibility  of  such  a  state  under  the  influences  of  ci 
vilization  and  Christianity,  we  ought  not  to  despair,  yet  it  is  unquestionable 
that  individual  freedom  and  individual  happiness  should  ever  be  considered 
subordinate  to  the  public  good.  It  is  not  right  that  men  should  be  free 
when  their  freedom  will  prove  injurious  to  themselves  and  others.  Hence,  in 
all  enlightened  communities,  the  restraints  upon  minors,  and  upon  all  who 
are  found  incapable  of  judging  and  acting  for  themselves."— Repository. 


APPENDIX.  359 

[NOTE.     See  page  222.] 

A  DELIGHTFUL  CLIMATE  FOR  THE  BLACKS. 

"  There  seems  to  be  a  peculiar  fitness  in  placing  the  Ne 
gro  in  Africa,  when  it  is  recollected  that  large  portions  of  its 
immense  tracts  are  suited  only  to  his  constitution.  The 
white  man  will  languish  and  die  beneath  a  sun  which  is  con 
genial  to  the  nature  of  the  black  man.  Nature  herself,  there 
fore,  would  seem  to  concur  with  philanthropy,  unless  it  be 
thought  that  she  designed  those  regions,  which  are  so  well 
calculated  for  the  residence  of  the  latter,  and  for  him  only, 
to  lie  waste  and  uninhabited." — Tyson. 

"  If  we  look  to  that  well-marked  and  vast  peninsula,  we 
find  that  equally  marked  race,  the  Negro,  with  slight  modifi 
cations,  forming  its  native  population  throughout  all  its  re 
gions.  We  find  the  temperature  of  his  blood,  the  chemical 
action  of  his  skin,  the  very  texture  of  his  wool  hair,  all  fit 
ting  him  for  the  vertical  sun  of  Africa  ;  and  if  every  surviv 
ing  African  of  the  present  day  who  is  living  in  degradation 
and  destitution  in  other  lands,  for  which  he  was  never  intend 
ed,  wras  actually  restored  to  the  peculiar  land  of  his  peculiar 
race,  in  independence  and  comfort,  would  any  man  venture 
to  affirm,  that  Christianity  has  been  lost  sight  of  by  all  who 
had  in  any  ways  contributed  to  such  a  consummation  ?  It 
matters  not  to  brotherly  love  on  which  side  of  the  Atlantic 
the  Negro  is  made  enlightened,  virtuous,  and  happy,  if- he 
is  actually  so  far  blessed  ;  but  it  does  matter  on  which  side 
of  the  ocean  you  place  him,  when  there  is  ONLY  ONE  WHERE 

HE  WILL  BE  HAPPY    AND    RESPECTABLE  as    benevolence  WOuld 

wish  to  see  him,  and  certainly  there,  a  rightly  applied  mo 
rality  and  religion  would  sanction  his  being  placed." — j 
burgh  Phrenological  Journal. 


[NOTE.     See  page  294. ~] 

GROWTH  OF  THE  COLONY. 

The  slow  increase  of  a  colony  at  its  commencement  is  the 
dictate  of  prudence.     "  The  French  colony  at  Cayenne  was 


360  APPENDIX. 

begun,  as  that  nation  expresses  it,  on  a  grand  scale  ;  12,000 
settlers  embarked,  and  almost  all  perished.  A  few  people 
form  the  best  germ  for  a  colony.  Double  or  treble  their 
numbers  every  year,  and  you  will  see  them  thrive.  Pour 
in  a  larger  population  than  can  be  provided  for,  and  the 
whole  must  perish.  In  this,  nature  points  out  our  course  : 
the  shoot  from  an  acorn  rises  at  first  slowly  ;  but  as  it  ac 
quires  strength  it  gains  beyond  conception,  at  every  annual 
ring,  till  the  insignificant  fruit  of  one  short  season  sees  nu 
merous  generations  enjoy  its  ample  shade." — Repository. 


[NOTE.     See  page  207.] 

CORRECTION. 

The  Author  finds,  since  the  Conversations  upon  the  reli 
gious  privileges  of  Liberia,  that  St.  James'  Church,  at  Mon 
rovia,  has  ceased  to  be.  Without  a  spiritual  guide,  the  con 
gregation,  which  was  respectable  for  numbers,  has  become 
dispersed,  amalgamating  through  necessity  with  other  deno 
minations.  The  last  report  from  that  church,  previous  to 
its  evaporation,  was  68  baptisms  and  30  additional  applica 
tions — besides  applications  from  one  of  the  other  principal 
settlements  for  the  services  of  the  church  there.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  church  may  yet  be  resuscitated  under  a  com 
petent  teacher  and  its  branches  be  multiplied. 


ERRATA. 

On  16th  page,  5th  line  from  the  bottom,  read  '  did  not  know.' 
"    58th  page,  16th  line  from  the  bottom,  for  "  Bornon,"  read  'Bornou.' 
"    79th  page,  subject  line  at  the  top,  for  "  diligent,"  read  '  vigilant' 
"    105th  page,  llth  line  from  the  top,  for  "  determined  in,"  read  'deter 
mined  on  their  extinction.' 

"     127th  page,  llth  line  from  the  top,  for  "  1807,"  read  '  1787.' 
"     303d  page,  7th  line  from  the  top,  for  "  cypressi,"  read '  cupressi.' 


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